


The Little Bat

by elvirakitties



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Child Abuse, Dumbledore Bashing, F/M, Good Draco Malfoy, Good Lucius Malfoy, Good Severus Snape, Good Slytherins, Good Voldemort, M/M, Manipulative Dumbledore, Mental Health Issues, Past Child Abuse, Ron Weasley Bashing, Some Humor
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-08-15
Updated: 2018-09-18
Packaged: 2018-12-15 17:49:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 23
Words: 47,802
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11811135
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/elvirakitties/pseuds/elvirakitties
Summary: Harry's affected by the abuse more than Dumbledore ever expected or wanted





	1. Chapter 1

Dumbledore was a bit worried. Hagrid reported back from his visit with Harry. If he could have called it a visit. Vernon Dursley had shot Hagrid in the arm. Hagrid said he saw Harry curled up in a corner but that the Dursleys wouldn't let him near the boy. Their own son was huge compared to Harry. Hagrid said Harry didn't even look like he was old enough to go to Hogwarts.

Dumbledore was now waiting in his office for Severus Snape. If anyone could discover what was wrong with the boy, it would be Severus. Was it all a ploy by the Dursleys to keep Harry? He knew over the years that they had demanded more and more money to care for Harry. Maybe they were afraid of losing their source of money? He stopped his musing as Severus was announced.

____________________________________________________________________________

Severus Snape couldn't believe he was actually doing this. He was heading toward Petunia Dursley's house. How he hated the woman. Why Dumbledore left the Potter spawn there he would never understand. He found number 4 but he didn't feel any magic. He discreetly pulled out his wand and ran a scan. There weren't any wards on the house or even in the area.

He put his wand away. He headed up the walkway of said house. He wondered if they used a ruler to measure the grass. Knowing Petunia she most like screamed every time the grass put a blade out of place. The whole area just screamed, "we want to make everyone believe we are normal". He was sickened by the whole neighborhood. He would also bet that there were at least three neighbors spying on him as he approached the pristine house. He knocked on the door. He heard a child scream "Mum, there is a freak on at the door."

Severus, if he was honest, wasn't a bit surprised by that. He would bet the contains of his vault that Petunia raised Potter and her son to be spoiled brats and taught them that the world revolved around them. He was going to have Dumbledore testing some potions for him.

"What do you want?" Petunia asked through clenched teeth. "We already told you the boy isn't going."

"Hello to you too, Tunney. I am here to speak to Potter."

"What didn't you freaks understand? We said no. He isn't going." She went to shut the door but he pushed against it.

"Do I need to remind you that I am over 17 and can perform magic outside of Hogwarts?" Severus sneered. "Now, I want to speak to Potter. I will leave after that."

"Fine."

Severus resisted the urge to wipe his face. He followed Petunia into the house. He looked around noticing the wall of pictures. He looked at them and not one of them had Potter. They either contained the fat blob he could see eating ice cream in front of the telly or a family of three. He could see out of the corner of his eye that Petunia walked to a door. Why was she opening a door to a boot cupboard? "Get out."

Severus watched as a small child emerged. The boy looked to be about 7 or 8. He was so skinny, Severus wondered if he could count the boy's ribs. The clothes he had on were huge and Severus could see some bruises. He could see some blood that dried on the clothing and skin. He felt his stomach sink as he finally looked at the face. It was Harry Potter. The boy had blue spiked hair, Lily's green eyes. "Potter?"

"Freak, tell him you are staying here." Petunia's claws squeezing the boy's shoulders.

Severus didn't even wait for a response. He stunned her. When she fell over he walked closer to the boy. He stopped moving when the boy started to retreat. "Harry, I promise you, I won't hurt you. I am here to remove you from here to someplace safe." Harry tilted his head and Severus felt something strange caress his skin. "I knew your parents. They would have never wanted you to remain here." He ignored the feeling. He recognized what it was. He had the same gift. It wasn't an uncommon gift but one that was usually found in magical children who were abused. Their magic developed a way to protect them. It would allow them to know who would hurt them or not. It didn't keep them safe from their abuser but it did keep them safe from others who might do the same thing.

Harry slowly walked closer to Severus. He glanced at his fat cousin who still hadn't moved from in front of the telly. Severus didn't move as Harry touched the dark mark on his arm. "You help Harry?"

"Yes." Severus still hadn't moved. "I'm here to take you to Hogwarts. Once there, we will get you healed, some food, some clothes, and a real room for you."

Harry glanced back at the still form of his Aunt. "She bad?"

"Yes."

"Uncle too?"

"Yes."

Harry walked back to the cupboard. Severus watched Harry pull out a ratty blanket and three toys. "Ready."

Severus saw the blanket that had HJP on the corner. It was the baby blanket he had given Lily for Harry the day Harry had been born. He got up and peeked inside the cupboard. He was hoping to find more clothes or even something to suggest it wasn't as bad as he was thinking it was. He found an old baby mattress on the floor. The cupboard was filled with cleaning supplies. In the farthest back corner, in crayon, was "Hary's room" written on the wall. He looked down at Petunia. "You will get yours. Karma." He refrained from cursing her as he didn't want Harry to be afraid of him.

_____________________________________________________________________

Severus had to give Harry a stomach soother on the Knight Bus. Harry was now curled up on his lap, playing with his robes. He was thinking of how to stop Dumbledore and his plans. He knew Dumbledore had to know what happened at that house. Dumbledore, after all, had been telling everyone for years how Harry was being well taken care of, how his relatives loved him, how they were making sure he was getting the proper training.

He also knew that Hagrid had been originally sent to retrieve the boy. Severus knew Dumbledore did that for a reason. It didn't make any sense as only a Professor, preferably a Head of House, was required to inform students they were magical. Granted, technically, Harry should have already known that but why Hagrid? What did Dumbledore hope to accomplish by sending Hagrid?

"What you called?" Harry tilted his head to look at his savior.

"Severus Snape. I am the Potion Master and Professor at Hogwarts."

"Pr'fssor Snap. You be my Pr'fssor." Harry snuggled into the man and went to sleep before Severus could recover.

_____________________________________________________________________

"He's still sleeping." Poppy explained as Severus and Dumbledore sat down in her office. "He is well below the average weight and height for his age. His back and legs are covered with scars. From the scan I did, I found a lot of scarring on his head. I am not sure what caused the scars but I expect him to be mentally behind. Not just from the scaring but from speaking to him. I couldn't touch him. He flinches when I get close."

"He sat on my lap on the bus." Severus wasn't sure what Dumbledore's plans were but he knew they didn't involve a mentally disabled Potter.

"I know. He said it's because you are his." Poppy pulled out a scroll. "That is his history." Severus and Dumbledore read down the very long list of injuries. "I've seen healthier torture victims. What are we going to do?"

"Can he handle first-year material?" Dumbledore wanted to kill the Dursleys.

"I am not sure. Mentally, he is behind in everything. However, he also shows signs of being extremely intelligent. It's like his mind can't match up with what he wants to say at times. He knows what he wants to say but he can't process how to say it. He doesn't like to be touched but isn't able to explain why."

"Autistic?" Severus and Poppy had studied muggle medicine and kept up with the advances when they could but they weren't up on all the new muggle advances, especially the mental health ones. They knew in a lot of ways muggles were more advanced in science and in some cases cures.

"I believe so. I did a bit of testing while I was healing him. Socially, he is at the higher end of the autistic scale. He won't have problems interacting on one on one but he will not be able to understand social boundaries or even understand why someone might want to hurt him. Mentally, he is at the level of 6 or 7 years old in regards to emotions, even speech patterns. However, he does understand complex words that I would place at a higher end of a teenager. It's like he has a dictionary memorized but doesn't know how to use the words correctly or even able to match them to emotions or how to correctly respond to a question that would fit with the words. A good example is when I asked him if he was injured. I asked him does his stomach hurt as well as his rib cage. His response was "yep, Harry hurt." When I asked for clarification, which he understood, his response was "ribs ouchies, tummy sore."

"I see. Severus?" Dumbledore looked at the results again.

"He can't return and I agree with Poppy. I don't know why he trusts me enough to let him touch him. I told you about the house. You looked at the memory. I'm frankly not surprised. He could hear the telly from his cupboard. He could have learned the words from the telly and since he couldn't see the telly he wouldn't be able to put them into context. I am going to guarantee that they weren't teaching their son anything. Harry wouldn't have been able to use the words in his life."

"I looked at Harry's records from his primary school. They agree with what I have learned."

"Do you believe he can handle first-year material?" Dumbledore didn't even want to think of what he would do if his savior wasn't able to be their savior.

"Yes, he will need Severus' help. Harry won't be able to handle Minerva's stiffness, it will scare him more. Filius' gleeful attitude would scare him because he wouldn't know how to react to it. Pomona, while gentle and sweet, she doesn't have the ability to push him when needed and to back off and let Harry work out whatever is needed. Pomona wouldn't push him forward either. She would be entirely encouraging but she is too touchy-feely for Harry also. He responded better to Severus because I believe Severus knows how to handle abused students." Poppy glanced at Severus. "Since Harry established a connection with Severus. Severus has the experience with abused students. Harry would do better with Severus. Harry would benefit from Severus range of materials he can teach to understanding when it would be too much for Harry."

"Why don't we wait until his sorting before we make that decision." Dumbledore stated. "For now, he can stay in the Infirmary."

"I am afraid that won't work. He won't like the open space to sleep in. I had to give him a Dreamless Sleep Potion. He is used to a small cupboard, Albus. He is in a strange place. He will need someone to be around for him, like Severus. I can't. If I get called away and he wakes up, I am not sure what will happen." Poppy knew Harry needed to be with Severus. Severus, coming from an abused background, would understand Harry better. She knew that Severus was one of the few staff members who had his medical license and knew about muggle medical issues.

Severus knew what Poppy was doing and agreed with her. "I will set up a room for him." He didn't even give Dumbledore time to respond before he was out the door. He would have to order Harry's school supplies. There was no way the boy was going to be able to handle anyone who wanted to meet the Boy-Who-Lived. He also didn't think that Harry would be able to handle all the stimulation of Diagon Alley. The boy barely handled the bus. He knew it was only because he had kept Harry on his lap.

________________________________________________________________________________

"Harry, I am going to stay with you." Severus was standing at the entrance to the Castle with Minerva. They were waiting for the boats to arrive.

Harry was bouncing in place but wouldn't let go of Severus' hand. Harry had been a bundle of nervous energy all day. He had worn out Fang after lunch while Hagrid and Severus worked on the garden. Hagrid's loud voice scared Harry at first but the half-giant toned it down. Harry got used to the man. Hagrid's gentle ways won him over but only Severus could touch him.

Most of the staff over the last month had worked with Harry. They all agreed that Harry would be able to handle the work but he would need help with social interactions. Harry would have to have someone with him all the time. They found a house elf, named Tina, who would follow Harry around. They taught Harry how to summon the elf. They found Harry would spend time playing games with the elf while Severus would brew.

"They here." Harry watched the students trudge up to the castle. He waved at his new friends. Severus had introduced him to Draco and some of his friends. Dumbledore had tried to get Harry to be friends with Ron Weasley but the boy scared Harry. Dumbledore had kept trying to force the issue until Minerva found Ron teasing Harry, and calling Severus names.

"They promised they would be, my little bat." Severus reminded Harry. They ignored Minerva's snort.

*****Flashback to about a week after Harry arrived at Hogwarts*******

"Why are you living with the greasy bat of the dungeons?" Ron pushed Harry to sit down on the ground.

"Who?" Harry didn't like this boy. He was like his cousin.

"Snape, you know the mean old greasy bat of the dungeons." Harry went to get up but Ron pushed him back down.

"My Pr'ffsor isn't that."

"Yes, he is. He's a Death Eater, a snake. All Slytherins are evil. Don't you know that? Are you that stupid?"

"Not stupid." Harry tried to get up again. He wanted to leave and find his Pr'ffsor.

"He is so. All Slytherins are evil and he is the Head of Slytherin. So the greasy bat of the dungeons is the worst one."

"Mr. Weasley, my office now!" Minerva couldn't believe the boy. He had already been warned about his attitude.

Harry saw Severus and ran to him, wrapping his arms around the man's legs. "You bat?"

"They call me that." Severus answered.

"You bat, I little bat." Harry announced, smiling up.

"Yes, you are my little bat." Severus knew Harry was his.

****************End flashback************************

The sorting was to begin but they all knew that Harry wouldn't react well to anyone staring or making comments if they knew who he was so before any names were announced. Severus escorted Harry to the three-legged stool.

"Now?" Harry looked at Minerva.

"Now." She confirmed. They had already introduced Harry to the Sorting Hat.

Harry sat on the stool. "Well, Mr. Potter, I have been expecting you."

"Hi. I go with my bat."

The Sorting Hat snorted if you believe a noseless hat could do that. "Yes, I do agree. I see quite a mind there. They will bring it out, you little bat. Let it be-" The Sorting Hat "-Slytherin."

Harry grinned and made his way to the Slytherin table where the upper years welcomed him. "I'm a snake and a little bat." He announced, rather proudly, as he sat down.

"Yes, you are."

Severus glanced at Dumbledore who looked like he swallowed a lemon. Severus hoped the man didn't think Harry would go to Gryffindor. The boy wouldn't have made it in the house of the lions. He glanced at Ron Weasley who looked furious. He knew Dumbledore wanted Harry and Ron to be friends for a reason. Ron, however, wasn't subtle about being Harry's friend. He had heard Ron refer to Harry as his best mate. He also heard about how they would be going on adventures together, how they would have so much fun together. That had been the day Draco and Vincent had been over to visit. Draco and Vincent got along wonderfully with Harry. Both boys looked at Harry as if he was their little brother. He had heard Ron informing Draco about being Harry's friend, not some snake. Draco, which he was a bit surprised by, laughed and walked away.

______________________________________________________________________

"You don't want to sleep in your dorm room?" Severus was a bit surprised to find Harry following him out of the common room after he gave his yearly opening speech. Harry had stayed behind Severus during his opening speech. Harry didn't not like people looking at him. 

"No, too loud." Harry held up his arms to be picked up.

"You know you do have to sleep in there, eventually." Severus picked him up and started walked toward their quarters. He wasn't sure why he was comfortable picking up Harry but he was. He normally wasn't a lovable person. "How about once classes start you attempt it?"

"No classes, I here?"

"Deal but you have to try." Severus knew Harry was very good at trying to obey.

Harry nodded his agreement and buried his head in Severus' neck. "Bat?"

"What?"

"Tired."

Severus carried Harry into his bedroom. The bedroom was painted to look like a forest with all different kind of animals which Harry had made up stories about. Draco had helped pick out the theme with Harry. So there was even a dragon in the forest, and yes, of course, a bat and a baby bat.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is going to be a little faster paced for a bit, but I will get more into the "meat" of the story when Harry is a bit further along in his education. I just want to kind of get things established now.

Dumbledore glared at the paperwork. Severus was now Harry's legal guardian. There was nothing he could do about it. He wanted to curse Vernon Dursley and his wife. They were found guilty after given truth serum. They admitted to the physical and mental abuse of Harry Potter. A few members of the Wizengamot had gotten sick at what Vernon described what he had done to the boy. The boy was now protected by the Ministry. Poppy was the one to suggest Severus. After she explained about Harry the Ministry agreed with her concerning Severus and Harry. The Ministry allowed Severus to become Harry Potter's guardian even Lucius Malfoy supported it. 

Dumbledore was a bit shocked that Fudge and Madam Bones had tried to get charges against him. He was able to escape the charges because there was no evidence beyond the muggles words that showed Dumbledore's involvement. He was thankful that he never wrote anything down. Most believed that Vernon took his words the wrong way. He wasn't going to correct that assumption. Granted those who didn't support him knew what he meant when he informed Vernon Dursley that Harry was there to protect their family and that he couldn't leave until he was seventeen. He had told Vernon that he shouldn't know about magic as it might attract the eye of those who were after the boy. He was also able to explain the howler he sent about some accidental magic where he was heard saying, "remember my last, Petunia." He was thankful that he put them under a Vow giving them permission to abuse the boy but keep him alive. He had threatened their son after they almost killed the boy. The Howler was a reminder to keep the abuse under control. 

Dumbledore was thankful his spy still would listen to him. He knew Severus would allow the boy to be trained the way he wanted him to be. He would use the retard boy's limited intelligence and Voldemort's return to get his way.

________________________________________________________

Severus had spent the morning at Gringotts. He had toured the Potter vaults and found piles of letters, bills, and documents from Godric's Hollow in the vaults. He was already furious with how Dumbledore had been handling the Potter-Black estates. Ironclaw was going to be busy for a few days getting all the funds returned, stopping payments to the Order, Dumbledore, Lupin, and the Weasley family. 

Ironclaw had shown Severus the Potters' Wills. Harry was to never go to the muggles. Severus was to be his guardian after Black. Ironclaw was going to hide most of what they learned and blame the robbery for discovering the accounting errors. Accounting errors, if Dumbledore had kept control, Harry would have been in debt by the time the man was finished. Thankfully, Ironclaw had a good solid plan to fill the vaults, not that getting the money returned wouldn't. The ones who were living in the Potter-Black properties were going to be getting bills for all the years they had lived there for free and rental agreements. Severus and Ironclaw hid their smirks knowing that Lupin and the Weasleys couldn't afford to keep the houses they were living in. 

As Severus sat with Lucius, in Lucius' office, he explained what he learned. He handed Lucius a letter he had read a few times. It had never been sent. He had wondered why. At Lucius' puzzled face, he pointed to the letter. "Read it, especially the last sentence." 

Lucius opened the letter: 

Dear Padfoot,  


Thank you, thank you, for Harry's birthday present! It was his favorite by far. One year old and already zooming along on a toy broomstick, he looked so pleased with himself, I'm enclosing a picture so you can see. You know it only rises about two feet off the ground, but he nearly killed the cat and he smashed a horrible vase Petunia sent me for Christmas (no complaints there). Of course, James thought it was funny, says he's going to be a great Quidditch player, but we've had to pack away all the ornaments and make sure we don't take our eyes off him when he gets going.

We had a very quiet birthday tea, just us and old Bathilda, who has always been sweet to us, and who dotes on Harry. We were so sorry you couldn't come, but the Order's got to come first, and Harry's not old enough to know it's his birthday anyway! James is getting a bit frustrated shut up here, he tries not to show it but I can tell -- also, Dumbledore's still got his Invisibility Cloak, so no chance of little excursions. If you could visit, it would cheer him up so much. Wormy was here last weekend, I thought he seemed down, but that was probably the news about the McKinnons; I cried all evening when I heard.

Bathilda drops in most days, she's a fascinating old thing with the most amazing stories about Dumbledore, I'm not sure he'd be pleased if he knew! I don't know how much to believe, actually, because it seems incredible that Dumbledore 

Lucius turned the page:

could ever have been friends with Gellert Grindelwald. I think her mind's going, personally!

Lots of love,

Lily

Lucius looked a bit surprised. Severus felt the same way when he read the letter. "I spoke to Bathilda. She still lives in Godric's Hollow. She had a very interesting tale to tell me." 

"I find myself surprised just from what Lily wrote. What did you learn?" 

"According to Bathilda, Dumbledore and Grindelwald, who is her grand-nephew, were great friends and planned on doing a world tour together. Dumbledore was 18 at the time, Grindelwald was 16. Apparently Dumbledore had strong feelings for Grindelwald, however, Grindelwald is straight."

"That would create problems." Everyone knew Dumbledore was gay. 

"Exactly. She told me that there was a three-way duel. The duel was between Aberforth, Albus, and Grindelwald. Arianna Dumbledore was killed in the duel. Now, that in of itself is interesting. It turns out that Dumbledore's father died in Azkaban for attacking three muggle boys. The muggle boys weren't innocent. No one knows exactly what they did to Arianna but she was afraid of magic after that. The family moved to Godric's Hollow after the scandal."

"That means that the house the Potters were at didn't have old wards like the ones that would have existed at Potter Manor." Lucius was wonder what would have possessed Potter to move away from an ancient manor to an unprotected house?

"It gets better." Severus was still trying to understand everything. "Arianna had killed their mother by accident. So Aberforth had been taking care of his sister. Albus had been ignoring them in favor of Grindelwald. So when she was killed because of the duel, Grindelwald took off. Albus got punched in the face by his brother at the funeral. Dumbledore's phrase "for the greater good" was one Grindelwald and him had created in their ideal of the perfect magical world. She said that Dumbledore's attitude suddenly changed. He became a professor at Hogwarts. He started working on the caring and loving image. He is the one who tried to ban her history books. The thing is she has all the letters between Albus and Grindelwald. They are in her vault. If anything happens to her or she dies suddenly the letters will come to you. She suggested me but I explained I didn't want Dumbledore becoming away of me receiving anything from her."

Lucius processed everything as Severus drank some scotch. "We will need to dig into the complete history of them. The duel, the history of Tom Riddle, the history of the Potters. There had to be a reason why he was so interested and against the Dark Lord when he was a student. It's strange that when the Dark Lord graduated that the duel suddenly happened."

"You think the Dark Lord was the first bid for control and he is planning on doing the same thing with Harry?" Severus took a sip of his drink. "It would make sense. Tom was abused, powerful, smart, and Dumbledore was his first contact."

"It makes sense. You mentioned that course. I read about the robbery, I know the stone has to be at Hogwarts. I wouldn't be surprised if he set up Weasley to be friends with Harry as a way to test Harry." 

"It would make sense." Severus sighed. Since it was Saturday night he knew he had to head back to Hogwarts soon. Harry would be expecting to spend the night with him. He knew that Draco, Blaise, Theo, Greg, Vincent, and surprisingly, Neville Longbottom were taking care of Harry. He was a bit surprised to have Neville as one of his snakes. He thought it was because of Dumbledore's failed attempt at getting Weasley to be friends with Harry and Dumbledore instead recruited Neville. 

********************Flashback--After Weasley's visit but before school started**************************

Harry was with Draco and Severus when Dumbledore arrived with Neville Longbottom trailing behind him. They had just finished eating a picnic at Black Lake. Harry and Draco were playing with some Herbology flashcards. "Ah, lovely day." 

"Headmaster." Severus felt Harry lean against him. Harry didn't feel comfortable around Dumbledore.

"I was just telling Neville about Harry. I thought Neville might enjoy meeting Harry." 

Dumbledore was wearing a neon green robe with flashing purple spots. "Eyes hurt." Harry buried his head in Severus' robes. 

Severus understood what Harry meant. The robes were making his own eyes hurt. Draco stood up, held out his hand. "Heir Draco Malfoy, a pleasure to meet you Heir Neville Longbottom." 

Neville smiled as he took Draco's hand. "Pleasure is mine, Heir Malfoy." 

"May I present Heir Harry Potter." Draco indicated Harry with his hand. "He is a bit shy." 

"Heir Harry Potter." Neville tilted his head. 

"I like plant boy." Harry giggled into Severus' chest. 

"Mr. Longbottom, if you wish to join us?" Severus saw the twinkling eyes of Dumbledore. "We are helping Harry learn some herbology." 

Neville beamed a smile. "I have a greenhouse, my very own one. Gran lets me plant all kinds of flowers, herbs, even some bushes in there." 

*************End Flashback*************

"So the old fool is still stunned that a Longbottom ended up in Slytherin?" 

"Yes, he has been trying to get Augusta to ask for a resort but surprisingly the old biddy refuses. She said she has seen a great improvement in her grandson since he became friends with Draco and Harry." 

"She invited Narcissa to tea." 

"I best head back. Harry still refuses to sleep in the dorms on the weekends but he is now up to spending most of the week in the common room and dorms." 

"Draco wrote home. He wants you and Harry to spend the holidays here." 

"That is still a few months away. I will need to see how he does. He still can't handle the crowds. Tina has been popping Draco and Harry to their classes." 

"He still calling you Bat?"

"Yes." Severus smiled. 

__________________________________________________________

"My Bat, my Bat, look my Bat is here." Harry was bouncing up and down in place. "See Gemma he is here." He ran to Severus and wrapped his arms around Severus' legs.

"I see." Gemma Fay was one of his fifth-year prefects. "Hello, Sir." No one was surprised by Harry running and hugging Severus. They were all used to it.

"Miss Fay. Little Bat, are you going to spend the night with Draco in your dorm room?"

"No, no, no, Little Bat goes with his Bat. Can Draco and Neville stay?"

"If they wish too." Severus saw Draco and Neville already had their bedclothes in their hands. 

"We would be honored." Draco smirked. This was actually a weekend thing. 

"I need to make you two permanent bed and give you space in the wardrobe." Severus told the two boys as he carried Harry out of the common room toward his quarters. 

"It would be easier, Sir. I can ask my Gran to send you the items." 

"I can ask Mother. She has already asked me if I needed extra toiletries." 

"I will write to them."

"My Bat, can we have cocoa?" 

"Of course. You did very well on your assignments this week." Severus and the rest of the staff spent two extra hours a week each working with Harry. The boy absorbed the information like a sponge but they were still working on connecting the words, spells, and how to use them correctly. Severus was going to slowly work on Harry's manners.

So far Harry could do the spells but instead of floating a feather Harry levitated books, chairs, tables, and even Filius. Harry could do whatever charm Filius showed him after some coaching on pronunciation. He even set the tea kettle and teacups to dance. It was just getting him to do the spells in class correctly. 

Minerva was impressed by Harry's skills. Harry transformed the matches into anything that didn't have a sharp point. They learned that Petunia would use sharp points, including her fingernails, and stick Harry with them. So Minerva was working on teaching him that he would never be hurt in her class by a needle. 

Potions, Harry loved, he was actually good at them. Harry just didn't like anything slimy. He refused to touch anything slimy feeling in Harry's mind. They were still trying to understand what exactly Harry meant by slimy but they were learning. They learned it wasn't just limited to just portions ingredients. Severus discovered it was the same with food, clothes, even bedding. 

Harry did very well in Herbology. The plants seemed to thrive with him around. Harry loved to touch them, caress the plants. Even the Devils' Snare loved to have Harry pet it. They were about to burn the plant when they saw the plant wrapped around Harry but Harry was giggling and the plant set him gently down. Neville and Pomona spent a lot of time with Harry in the greenhouses. 

History of Magic was a bit of a problem since Binns was a ghost. Severus pulled Harry from Binns class after Harry spent the class trying to figure out how Binns was a ghost. Severus actually started his own History of Magic class in the common room. It was easier after years of teaching it anyway. He knew Dumbledore would never get rid of Binns. 

Severus also had two of Harry's classes he had to attend. One was Astronomy. The boy didn't mind Sinistra and loved laying down and looking at the stars. It was getting up there. Harry didn't like heights and refused to go up to the tower unless Severus was with him. He also refused to get on a broom despite Dumbledore making the boy return each week to the class. The class usually ended in a mental meltdown from Harry, requiring a calming draught. After three weeks, Poppy, Rolanda, Severus, and Minerva put an end to Harry attending the class. Draco had written home and Narcissa sent Draco's first broom to Draco for Harry. Harry didn't mind the child broom as Harry was never far from Severus. Severus and Draco worked on Neville and Harry's riding skills. Rolanda was very impressed by the improvement and passed both boys. 

_____________________________________________________

Severus biggest concern was right this moment was Dumbledore's insistence that Harry had to attend the Halloween Feast. "You know he isn't going to handle it well." Draco commented as Severus was trying to figure out what custom Harry would be willing to wear. The feast wasn't for another week.

"I am aware. The Headmaster believes because Harry attends all the other meals he will be fine with this feast." 

"Are you sure he isn't missing a few screws?" Draco had been learning some muggle terms from a few of muggle-born students in Ravenclaw. 

Severus didn't respond as he personally thought the man needed a wrap-around jacket. "I was thinking he might want to go as a bat."

"It would make him feel safer." Draco picked up his own custom. "I am going to go as a dragon. Most of the first years and a few upper years are going to go as the animals they added to the forest." Severus knew Draco meant those who were friendly with Harry and had painted their favorite animals in the forest that was painted on Harry's bedroom walls. "You should go as a bat." 

Severus arched his brows. "I believe I will dress as I always dress." 

"Like I said, a bat." Draco smirked. 

Harry appeared in Severus' living area. He was covered in green slime, crying, curled into a fetal position. Tina was wringing her hands. "Master Snape, I sorry. I tried to stop it but that mean Weasley threw something at Master Harry." 

Draco and Severus knowing how the boy hated anything slimy leaped into action. Draco ran to the bathroom while Severus pulled a blanket off of the couch and rushed to Harry. "Get Madam Pomfrey." The elf popped away. Wrapping Harry up in the blanket Severus picked him up. He spoke nonsense as he rushed to the bathroom where together they worked on getting Harry into a bath.

Poppy arrived as they were putting him in the tub. "Tina told me." 

Two hours later Harry was curled around Severus. Harry was finally sleeping. Draco had already returned to the dorm. Severus knew Draco was going to inform everyone what Weasley had done. "I need to speak to Minerva and Albus." 

"I am going to join you." 

Severus didn't argue. He picked up Harry and carried him to his bed. Tina appeared holding a stuffed bat. Severus laid Harry down. He gave Harry the stuffed bat. He was a bit amazed at times like this how child-like Harry was. He was going to speak to Poppy about an idea he had. 

____________________________________________________________________

Dumbledore, Severus, and Poppy were waiting for Minerva to bring Ronald Weasley. Severus was glaring at Dumbledore who actually looked unsettled by what happened. 

Dumbledore was furious. He wanted to kill Ron Weasley. He told the boy to leave Harry alone. He needed Harry to trust him and get him into Gryffindor. Instead, the brat had pranked Harry with the one thing everyone knew Harry hated. He also knew that Minerva was going to want him to make an example out of him. Minerva had Severus and Poppy backing her. He needed to do it. He couldn't have any student telling their parents or have someone mention it outside of Hogwarts where Rita might find out about it.

Minerva arrived with a very defensive Ronald Weasley behind her. "Mr. Weasley take a seat." 

Weasley stormed to a chair. "So the little brat can't take a prank. He went running to his bat." 

Dumbledore wanted to curse the boy. Minerva and Severus were about to explode but Poppy beat them to it which surprised Dumbledore. "That prank wasn't a prank. It was mean. You know about his fear of slimy things and you did anyway. You, Mr. Weasley, are nothing but a bully!"

"I don't believe it was meant that way." Dumbledore tried to calm Poppy down.

"If he isn't suspended I will write up a complete report and submit it." Poppy warned. She was a bit surprised by the actions of the latest Weasley. The twins, while they pranked, never did anything like this. They were never cruel with their pranks.

"I am already planning on doing it. If a student from another house did that prank they would be already suspended." Severus glared at Weasley. "I will be adding detentions also since you like slimy things so much I have a lot of potion ingredients that can use your assistance." 

"I agree, Headmaster." Minerva had her hands on her hips. Her wand was in her hand. 

"This is only a big deal because it's Potter." Weasley said the name Potter with utter loathing in his voice. "He's a traitor, a slimy snake. He needs to learn what it means to be a slimy snake. I just gave him a lesson." 

Dumbledore quickly summoned the drawn wands. He was ignoring the raised voices of his staff. He laid the wands on his desk. Once there was peace he looked at Ron. He was very disappointed. He was going to have to speak to Molly about getting the boy back to following their plan. "Mr. Weasley, you are suspended for a week. When you return you will spend three nights a week in detention with Mr. Filch. One day on the weekend with Professor Snape."

"Fine." Weasley slouched in the chair.

"Manners, Mr. Weasley." Minerva glared.

"Fine, Headmaster." 

Severus picked up his wand. "Hopefully your mother will be able to correct your manners and put an end to your bullying. However, I am doubtful that she could achieve the desired results, ever." 

Poppy rose. She took her own wand back. "Be thankful I am not for hurting anyone."

"I will escort Mr. Weasley back to his dorm to assist in his packing while Albus informs his mother." Minerva picked up her own want. "March, Mr. Weasley."


	3. Chapter 3

Lucius was reading the report from Severus and Poppy. The Board was meeting in an hour and he wanted to have it fresh in his mind. He knew Dumbledore was going to defend Ron Weasley. Molly Weasley had thrown a fit about her son being suspended. She had sent numerous howlers until, finally, the Board agreed to meet. 

Severus had written that since Ron had never left Hogwarts the boy was even ruder and meaner. Harry was his favorite target. Severus included copies of the detention reports and even included some of the students' concerns regarding Ronald Weasley.

He already heard from Lady Longbottom, who was not impressed by Molly Weasley's actions. Lady Longbottom, with other members of the Board, felt that Dumbledore was encouraging this action. Everyone knew the Weasleys did whatever Dumbledore wanted them to do. 

Lucius entered the meeting room and arranged his little area. He greeted everyone as they arrived and was a bit surprised when Poppy and Severus arrived on time for the meeting. He wasn't expecting them. Everyone else was sitting down. They were waiting for Molly Weasley and Dumbledore. No one was surprised by the lack of respect that Dumbledore showed by never being on time for meetings. The man was never on time for any meeting. 

Dumbledore arrived with Molly Weasley. His face showed surprise at seeing Severus and Poppy. He settled into his seat as Molly took a seat on the other side of Poppy. "Thank you all for attending." Dumbledore gave a grandfatherly smile as his hands ran down his beard. "I believe we all know why we are here." 

"Yes. I'm still wondering why it got this far. Ronald Weasley should have been suspended." Lady Longbottom had heard all about Ronald Weasley from her grandson. "Just because his mother threw a hissy fit we are all being subjected to her rants and your "it's a slight misunderstanding" routine. I have better things to do than listen to a woman, whose son is a bully, complain." Lady Longbottom was well known for her blunt manner of speaking.

"I do agree. I have read numerous reports. Mr. Weasley has been serving detention a lot for being a bully. Cursing three Hufflepuffs for being friends with Mr. Potter. Five Ravenclaws went to the Infirmary after he started a fight with them. He punched three in the nose. Four Slytherins, he cursed with a Bat-Bogey Hex. His own house is the most surprising. Most of them don't want him in the house. I believe they are saying how he complains and talks about beating up Mr. Potter. How Mr. Potter is a slimy snake and needs to be taught his place. How Mr. Potter needs to learn he was meant to be a lion. I believe a few also mentioned how Mr. Weasley has repeatedly been telling Mr. Potter that his parents would be ashamed of him." Lucius picked up the reports and passed them to his fellow board members. 

Ted Tonks usually followed Dumbledore as did Lady Longbottom. Lucius looked at their faces and knew they weren't going to be letting Ronald Weasley off. He knew Ernest Greengrass was neutral and fair but for something like this he would follow Lucius. Doge and Jones were devoted Dumbledore people. If Dumbledore told them to jump off a bridge for the greater good they would do it. Lady Parkinson was always with him. He knew before the meeting that Ronald Weasley suspension would be enforced but appearances must be kept up.

"While I'm sure the reports are accurate I do believe it's all a slight misunderstanding between Mr. Potter and Mr. Weasley. I believe in time they could be friends." Dumbledore gave them all a slight smile. 

"Albus, this report shows that Mr. Weasley covered Mr. Potter in slime knowing full well that he was afraid of slimy things. Madam Pomfrey provided us with the details of Mr. Potter's abilities, his issues, and his known reactions to slimy things. Mr. Weasley was a witness to the previous events and did this prank with full knowledge of what would happen. How do you expect us to believe this was a slight misunderstanding?" Ted Tonks held up the numerous reports they had been provided with.

"My son would never do something like that. It's all that other boy's fault. His parents would be so ashamed of him, being a Slytherin. As for being abused, please. That boy had everything given to him on a silver tray and they-" She waved her hand toward Poppy and Severus. "-are just catering to his demands." 

Ted and the rest of the board all wore shocked expressions, including Dumbledore. Dumbledore had been trying to get Molly to shut up by any means possible that didn't involve magic. "Mrs. Weasley, are you a healer?" Lord Greengrass had been reading the health report by Madam Pomfrey, two St. Mangos healers, and one mind healer.

"No, but I have seven children. I know a spoiled brat when I see one."

"I see. Have you met Mr. Potter?" Lucius knew the woman had not even seen Harry.

"I haven't seen him since he was a baby. I know what my son has told me." 

"Mrs. Weasley, I'm going to make it very simple for you. Your son is a bully. We have health reports from Madam Pomfrey and two St. Mangos healers and one of their top mind healers. All say that Mr. Potter has been severally abused. The abuse both physical and mental, compounded by the lack of any physical comfort has caused Mr. Potter to be autistic, with high functioning mental abilities yet low social skills, low emotional connections. We have reports from a variety of students and staff all stating how your son has been acting since they first saw him on the train declaring that Mr. Potter was his best friend. We also have from numerous professor stating that Mr. Potter gets along well with everyone in all houses. While your son bullies everyone especially those in Slytherin House. He even bullies those in his own house. Miss Granger is one example." Lady Longbottom wasn't about to let this go. Harry was a good friend to her grandson and surprisingly so was Draco Malfoy.

"I believe we call clear this up. Mr. Weasley and Mr. Potter have a slight misunderstanding and I'm sure if the two boys spent some time with each other. It will work itself out."

"No." Ted Tonk wasn't about to let an abused child anywhere near someone like Ron Weasley. "Albus, I worked with kids like Mr. Weasley and Mr. Potter. Mr. Weasley will bully and intimidate Mr. Potter. Mr. Potter will retreat even further into himself if this is allowed."

"I also object to this idea of Mr. Potter and Mr. Weasley spending time together. Mr. Weasley needs a mind healer, as well as his mother since it's clear where he is learning his bigotted attitude from." Lady Parkinson finally spoke. The woman was a kinder version of Severus Snape on a good day. She was blunt and didn't care if she hurt someone's feelings.

"My Ronnie would never do anything like that. Everyone is just catering to Harry Potter. You even have a Death Eater has his guardian. How is that going to make sure that the boy isn't corrupted? He should be with my family."

Dumbledore closed his eyes and rubbed his forehead as if a headache was building. He had warned Molly about this. He had told her to bring this in front of the Board was a bad idea. While he wished Harry wasn't abused as he was he needed Harry to be on his side. Ron Weasley was ruining it. He knew Ron deserved the suspension and he believed that Harry and Ron could be friends if the boy stopped listening to his mother. 

"Unless I'm mistaken but wasn't it Severus Snape who removed Mr. Potter from his abusive home? Wasn't it Mr. Snape who has been taking care of him since that time? Also isn't Mr. Snape the one who is healing the scars and fixing Mr. Potter's physical abuse issues?" Lord Greengrass looked down at the variety of reports and wondered why they were even here.

"Yes. He has. Professor Snape has been a great benefit to Harry. He has provided Harry with a lot of support as he adjusts to our world." Poppy glanced at Molly. "Despite Mrs. Weasley's belief that Harry was spoiled or being revered. Harry has a very level head on his shoulders. He does wonderfully with students and staff on a one to one basis. He is friendly with everyone and doesn't share the bigoted attitude concerning any house. He has shown he can handle the material that is being taught first years."

"That isn't an issue. Harry has, indeed, shown he can handle it." Dumbledore didn't want the board to remove Harry from Hogwarts.

"What is this about Big Bat and Little Bat?" Lady Longbottom had heard about it from Neville and wanted to see if the story was true.

Severus rose. "Mr. Weasley referred to me as the greasy bat of the dungeons when he was introduced to Harry the first time. Harry asked if I was a bat. I explained I am called that at times. He decided I was his bat and he was my little bat. As Poppy could explain connections to an autistic child are hard to create. So when one is created we didn't want to destroy it. Harry has thrived under this connection." 

"It's very true. He has. He has gained confidence which Mr. Weasley seems determined to destroy." 

"I have heard enough. I vote the suspension stays and based on this I would strongly suggest a mind healer for Mr. Weasley." Lord Greengrass used his and cast his agreement with the suspension. 

"I also agree." Lucius had thought he would have had to push a bit more. 

"I agree." Lady Longbottom, Lady Parkinson, and Ted Tonks cast their votes. 

Doge cast his vote in agreement while Emily Jones raised her wand. "I agree also. Actually, I would like to suggest two weeks. One week for suspension for his bully Mr. Potter. The second week Mr. Weasley can attend Hogwarts but I want a mind healer to speak to him and decide on a course of action. During the second week he will be limited to attending classes and at the other times, he will be in his dorm. His brothers will be in charge of him. One of them I believe is a Prefect." Auror Jones had carefully read each report. After listening to Molly she knew the boy needed help.

"That is an excellent suggestion." Lady Longbottom wasn't about to let this opportunity to slip away. "I strongly support Auror Jones' idea."

The motion was passed before Molly or Dumbledore could come up with an argument against it. Severus and Poppy were happy with how this went. Ron Weasley would be forced to get help. Dumbledore looked defeated. He knew it wouldn't go his way but he wasn't expecting Molly to be vocal about her feelings. He had hoped to get some type of agreement to Harry and Ron working out their issues.

"What? My son is fine. It's Harry Potter you should be worried about. The boy is in Slytherin. Who knows how is now being corrupted. He might go dark if he remains in that house with all those Death Eaters. You can't let a Death Eater raise the boy." 

"She needs a mind healer." Lady Longbottom commented to Lucius.

"Albus, perhaps you can escort Mrs. Weasley home?" Lucius stood up. He really wanted to hex the woman. 

"Yes, I do believe that would be a good idea." Dumbledore forced Molly out of the meeting room.

___________________________________________________________

"Bat, Bat, I did it. I floated a feather." Harry laughed at the dancing feather. 

"Very good." Severus took his normal chair and knew he would be spending time assisting his snakes as Harry worked on his own assignments. He knew Harry didn't know he left as the older students agreed to keep him busy, after Harry's session with Filius.

"I got an O." Harry handed his essay to Severus. 

"Keep this up and you will earn your chocolate this weekend." Harry beamed a smile as he continued working on his assignments. Severus knew Harry worked hard on his essays. "Let me see them after you are done."

"Always, Bat."


	4. Chapter 4

"I think this is going to end badly." Draco was standing next to Neville. They were dressed in their costumes for the Halloween Feast. Draco was a dragon while Neville was a Lilac Bush. Severus was walking a baby fruit bat toward them. 

Since Weasley had been suspended things had gone smoothly for everyone in the school. When he returned everyone knew Percy and the Twins were at the end of their patience by the end of the second week. The Twins decided to return the pranking favor and put spiders into Ron's bed. When Ron started screaming at them about knowing he was afraid of them. Everyone in the house yelled: "like Harry is afraid of slime. How does it feel?"

The Twins got a howler from their mother but everyone laughed including the Twins. Everyone knew it was coming and everyone called Weasley a tattletale. After that Weasley turned his attention to Granger. The poor girl was always being called names by him. He lost points, earned detentions, but nothing worked. All the staff agreed with the mind healer that Weasley needed more sessions but Molly withdrew him after that week. Molly kept insisting that her baby boy was fine. People now called Ron, "Baby Boy" just to annoy him. 

"No, I don't think it will end well either. Though he did seem excited to be dressing up as a bat." Neville could see smiling Harry.

Severus walked the three snakes to their table. He put a Chocolate Frog on each of their plates, waved his wand and everyone had one. "Watch him." Severus ordered his prefects.

"We will, sir." Gemma Fay smile at Harry. Harry was like a little brother to her and the older snakes. The feast was going well until Quirrell came in. 

"Troll in the dungeons. Just thought you should know." Quirrell promptly passed out. 

Students started screaming and trying to run for the door. Dumbledore shot a firecracker into the air. "Prefects, calmly escort your house back to your common room." 

"What? We are in the dungeons. That doesn't make sense." Draco pulled Harry to him. He wasn't leaving. Draco let go of Harry when he started to struggle a bit. Harry remained next to Draco. The snakes remained seated. 

"Good. Everyone stays here until I return." Severus ordered. 

"Yes, sir." They could see Poppy was leaning over Quirrell.

______________________________________________________________

"Albus, she was the girl's bathroom because of Mr. Weasley's picking on her, again." Minerva was getting very annoyed. "She could have died if Severus and I hadn't checked that area. The bathroom was destroyed."

"She is going to be in the Infirmary for a while." Severus couldn't believe Dumbledore was trying to keep Weasley from being punished.

"He didn't know she would hide in the bathroom."

"Isn't that the same excuse Mr. Mellcamp used last year when he was casting spells in a room and hit someone? That he didn't know they were in hiding in the room. He got suspended for three days. This is a continuing bullying problem." Minerva couldn't believe the man. "What are you going to tell her parents when she tells them why she was in the bathroom?"

"I will speak to Molly. However, I don't believe the boy should be suspended for this." 

"He almost got her killed." Minerva couldn't believe this.

"He did it with Black when he almost got me killed by Lupin. So this isn't a surprise." Severus was very disappointed in Dumbledore. "Look where Black is now." 

Dumbledore didn't like that remark. "I'm aware of where Sirius is. However, it's two different situations. Ron didn't send her to the bathroom. Nor did he release a troll into Hogwarts."

"No, he just torments Harry and Miss Granger as the Marauders did to me. If he is like this during his first year I don't want to be around during his fifth." Severus was liking the idea of withdrawing Harry. Severus would never get away with it unless he got some help. 

"Albus, the boy is in my house and I believe he needs to be suspended. Surely if I agree with Severus you should know something is wrong."

Dumbledore knew he was beaten. He could tell this was going to go before the Board either way. His staff would do it or Molly. He knew, however, if he spoke to Arthur it might be stopped. "A week. When he returns he will do three months of detentions three times a week with Angus or Severus." 

____________________________________________________________________

"Bat, why does the man who smells funny have a black stuff on the back of his head?" Harry had returned from one of his normal lessons with Quirrell. He put his satchel on the small table by the door. Harry was standing in front of Severus' desk.

"I'm not sure what you mean." Severus guided Harry over to the couch. They sat down. "Can you explain it to me?"

"It's the same black stuff on your arm." Harry touched Severus' left arm.

Severus slammed down his panic. "Has he been mean to you?" Severus would speak to Filius and see if he could help determine if Harry could see magic. He wasn't about to let Dumbledore know.

"No, very nice. He explains everything to me. He showed me I was holding my wand wrong on one spell. See." Harry cast a very basic shield spell. "He explained how I needed to stay away from the mean doggie on the third floor and trolls. He showed me what a troll looked like."

Severus was a bit confused. It had to be the Dark Lord. He would be the only one he could think of who would be possessing Quirrell. Which would explain the troll incident. It would also explain who Dumbledore was trying to attract to Hogwarts. He was going to kill the old fool. He put his son in danger. "My little bat, if he does anything you don't like you run. You come and get me." 

"OK. He has been fun. He has a great snake. She calls me hatchling." Harry slid off of the couch. "You want to check my work?"

"Yes, please." Severus was going to be speaking to Quirrell real soon. Dark Lord or not, he wasn't going to hurt his son. Son? Where did that come from? He realized he thought it earlier. He did care a great deal for Harry in the short time he had been in his custody. He would have to think about that more. He now needed to focus on Harry and his assignments. "We will do a potion after dinner." 

"Great. Can I pick it, please? Draco and Nev showed me next week's potion."

"Yes, you can." Severus was happy with Harry's increased sentence structure but he knew it was because Harry felt safe with him and these were routine questions and answers. 

_________________________________________________________

"Bat, Bat, come with me." Harry ran down the dungeon hall. He saw Tina standing at the beginning of the hall. 

"Harry? Are you hurt?" He would kill Weasley if he hurt one of his snakes.

"No, but come. It's vi..via..."

"I got it. Lead the way."

Harry led him to Quirrell's office. He opened the door and Quirrell was on the floor. He quickly ran to the man. He was moaning in pain. "What happened?" 

"Need stabilizer. This idiot drained his magic showing a seventh-year how to cast shield." The voice of the Dark Lord flowed from the back of Quirrell's head. 

Severus didn't ask any more questions but began to work. "Bat, they ok?"

"We're fine, Harry. You did a very good job." The Dark Lord reassured Harry.

Severus was a bit surprised by the Dark Lord's reassurance for Harry. "Yes, you earned an extra Chocolate Frog." He helped Quirrell back to his seat. "Harry, you can't tell anyone about this. Promise?"

"Why?" 

"Because it would be very bad for anyone to know about me." The Dark Lord spoke. "Remember what I said? It's a secret. Promise and remember what I said about promises." 

"Yep, I promise. Promise only break if someone in trouble or agreed upon. Can I have hot chocolate tonight?" Harry was not bothered by what he was being asked. 

"Yes, Harry. Go and see if Draco and Neville can help you study for Monday's test." Severus watched Harry wave bye. At the door, Tina appeared to take him.

"We need to talk." The Dark Lord spoke. Severus quickly put up some wards. "We don't have much time. I will tell you I'm not here to hurt Harry. I do need you and Lucius to aid me. Severus, I will make a vow that I'm not here to hurt him." 

Severus sighed. "I believe Dumbledore set a trap for you. He planned for Harry to know about the stone. He had originally sent Hagrid to get Harry but problems arose. I was sent to get him instead. You have seen how Harry is. His relatives did it."

"No, it wasn't all them. Lily was worried about Harry. She was searching in the DOM, found something interesting which we can discuss later. Lily thought Harry had Autism. She wanted to get him checked but Dumbledore convinced James it wasn't necessary. He then moved them to Godric's Hollow."

Severus pinched the bridge of his nose. "I knew something was off." 

"We will speak later. I need to rest. Also, Harry will need you. Just know I'm not here to hurt him. I want him protected by you and Lucius until I can get my body back."

"We can speak tomorrow night. Harry, Draco, and Neville usually spend the weekend with me but after they fall asleep we can speak." 

"I will be there."


	5. Chapter 5

Severus added wards to Harry's bedroom door. He had already refreshed the wards on Harry's bed. He didn't want any of the boys to wake up and find Quirrell in his quarters. He was a bit nervous about the Dark Lord being at Hogwarts. He acknowledged that if the man had truly wanted to hurt Harrypo90 he could have done so already. 

He opened the door as soon as Quirrell knocked. The Dark Lord had his wand out and cast wards in parseltongue. "To prevent a certain nosy headmaster from knowing what is going on." 

Severus poured them some tea. He had a feeling he was going to need something stronger but since he had three eleven-year-olds sleeping in the next room and a Dark Lord in his quarters so tea would have to do. He also had a feeling there was more that happened that night. Things that Albus Dumbledore wanted to remain hidden. 

"I'm not sure what you know but I never killed the Potters. I was originally going to attack them. However, they were already dead when I arrived. Dumbledore was standing over Harry. Peter Pettigrew originally came to me a week earlier. He was the Potters' secret keeper. Something about how Pettigrew was acting made me nervous. I saw Lily at the DoM the next day. Lily didn't like how Dumbledore kept insisting that they add to their wills that Harry was to go to her sister if anything happened to them especially after suggesting that Pettigrew be their secret keeper. They wanted Black, the Longbottoms, Minerva, and even you, though you were Lily's choice." 

"I thought Black was their secret keeper?" He buried the lump of emotions that surged forth. Lily wanted him to have Harry. 

"He was originally the one they were going to use. For some reason, Dumbledore convinced James Potter and Sirius Black that Black would be the logical choice and Pettigrew wouldn't. Lily informed me that they already believed that Lupin was the traitor." The Dark Lord inhaled deeply. "At first, Lily and I were under truce agreement. We were both after the prophecy which is why we were in the DoM."

Severus thought about what the Dark Lord said as he remembered the night he heard the prophecy. He groaned. "It's fake." 

"Yes. Lily met with me the next day. She wanted to talk to James. I was to meet her at Gringotts. However, she sent me a letter, delaying our meeting. She explained she needed to do some research. Two days before they were killed we met at the Leaky Cauldron. She brought Harry with her and felt she was being followed. She was very concerned about James and herself. I'm not sure what happened but she was fearful that she was on potions and under spells. She knew there was something wrong with Harry. After seeing Harry, I agreed. We were going to arrange a time to go to Gringotts. She had been researching a few things and found some potions that can cause problems in children if the mother is on the potion during a pregnancy including some darker love potions. She provided me with copies of all her research. The copies are at Slytherin Castle. Before we could continue, James arrived. He dragged them away. The night of the attack, Pettigrew arrived at my home. He was paranoid about something. He kept telling me that Harry was alone at the house. If I had been saner, I would have realized what was going on. I realized when we discovered that the prophecy was a fake that something wasn't right with me. It's why I wanted to meet with you on the 2nd." 

"Do you think he killed them?" No one but Dumbledore, Harry, and the Dark Lord knew what happened that night, well, perhaps Pettigrew. 

"Yes, he wasn't surprised to see me." The Dark Lord didn't speak. He waited for Severus to process the information he had told him. "When I arrived, Severus, he wanted me to take the blame for their deaths. Dumbledore wanted to have a symbol for people to rally behind. A battle cry, if you will. Lily didn't love James Potter. It was why she was at the DoM. She was looking for answers. She felt that Dumbledore, Potter, and Black, were hiding too much. She wanted to know why they left Potter Manor. She really didn't care for how quickly they turned on Lupin. She wanted to find out what they did to Harry." 

"Dumbledore believes that love protected Harry that night." He had never believed that theory and knew he wasn't the only one. While parents loved their children, he had seen many die willing to save their children, it didn't prevent their children from being killed by the Killing Curse. 

"It wasn't love. Lily used an old blood magic ritual from a book I had sent her. I had sent her a vial of my blood to use with hers for the ritual. When I arrived, Dumbledore was leaning over Harry. He was trying to pick Harry up but Harry wasn't letting him. Harry was screaming so loudly it enabled me to approach Dumbledore without him knowing I was in the house. When he realized I was in the room, he pulled out his wand. We dueled. I would need to review the memory of that night in a pensive to be positive but I believe my spell hit a mirror as I was dodging one of Dumbledore, my own spell hit me." 

"The house was almost completely destroyed so there wouldn't have been much in the way of evidence of what happened. Dumbledore would have covered his magical residue. He would have left your magical residue. Since I'm sure you used dark magic he was able to create a story to cover the truth." 

"From what I have heard and read about that night, yes he did. Severus, there is one thing I saw in Lily's research, something I know she would have told you. There is one thing in her research that she seemed to base her information on. It was your fifth year. She wanted to know why she never forgave you. She was concerned because you had been friends for so long. She also wondered why she was interested in a bully like James Potter." Severus had wondered why Lily was interested in Potter for years. He didn't think he earned her forgiveness for calling her such a nasty name. "She mentioned she loved you."

"What are your plans now?" Severus' felt lighter, happier, free from whatever chains he had placed around his heart. The same chains that Harry had been slowly breaking. 

"I'm want to get my body back. I know he has the stone here for a reason. He had to do it for a reason besides trying to trap me." The Dark Lord was tired. He didn't want another war but he couldn't let Dumbledore destroy their world.

"I believe it's a test. He has been trying to get Harry interested in the stone but Harry doesn't like him or Ron Weasley. He has tried to get Neville involved too." 

"Protect them both. I will get in touch with Lucius. I don't need the stone. I have other ways to come back. I don't want him to endanger Harry." 

"Can you access Lily's research?" Severus wanted to find out what was used on Lily. He knew there were a few different variations of love potions but using one on a pregnant woman would explain the chemical issues that could cause a variety of mental issues. The myth that a child that was conceived out of using love potions couldn't know love was actually wrong. That myth arose from Autistic children that families didn't understand what was wrong with their child so they blamed potions removing the ability to love. 

"As soon as I get my body back, yes. I placed it under some blood protection. I didn't trust Pettigrew." 

"Why did he kill James if James was part of the plan?" Severus knew it wasn't making any sense.

"I don't think he meant to. When I arrived James' position looked like he was trying to prevent whoever attacked from going after Lily and Harry. Lily was upstairs in the nursery with Harry. She was lying dead on the floor while Harry was screaming and trying to get away from Dumbledore."

"Are you going to remain here for the rest of the year?" Severus had never told anyone he had been at the house after the attack. The Dark Lord's admitting to him how he found them confirmed to him that the man was being truthful. The stories always just said defending Harry. Not where or how the bodies were found. 

"Yes. I will allow Dumbledore to think he has control. He won't expect anything until the end of the year." Dumbledore's theory about when the Dark Lord attack was going to work to his advantage this time. Dumbledore always forced the attacks before, now he knew why.

"Quirrell?"

"Will be heading back to Albania. His wife is eager for his return and I will return as Quirrell next year. I-"

They stopped talking as their individual wards started to go off. "It's Harry." Severus turned his head as the bedroom door opened and Harry exited the room carrying his stuffed bat. "Harry?" 

Harry climbed into Severus' lap. "Bat."

"What is wrong?" Severus checked to make sure Harry didn't feel hot. Some of the students already had colds and the flu. 

"Draco loud snoring." Harry tilted his head. "Snaky, you better?" 

"Yes, Hatchling, I'm better." The Dark Lord smiled. "I wasn't expecting to see you awake." 

Severus tried to not to show his shock but he knew his mouth was hanging open. "Draco snores." 

"So I heard." The Dark Lord laughed. "I do believe it's time for me to return to my own quarters."

"Come on, Little Bat. I will put you back to bed and roll Draco over." Severus was going to be reviewing this memory for a long time.


	6. Chapter 6

Severus and Quirrell, aka the Dark Lord, were dragged into another staff meeting. Ron Weasley was still causing problems, however, he was leaving Harry alone. Severus knew it was because of the Weasley twins and other students making sure Ron left Harry alone. They tried to protect all the students but Ron still managed to find trouble. They were here to discuss the latest issue and Granger, who was Ron's only friend.

"I'm still perplexed that they are friends." Severus quietly spoke to the Dark Lord. Since that night, Severus found himself dealing with the Dark Lord he originally knew. The one who wasn't bonkers. 

"They banded together after Minerva forced him to collect her homework while she was recovering. I believe he has been using her to get his own work done. The writing style is very similar." Quirrell didn't stutter when he spoke to Severus or Harry. Quirrell actually liked Severus and Harry. 

Severus arched a brow. It explained the weird changes in sentence structures but he had tested it for cheating unless Weasley rewrote the assignments after Granger fixed them. Severus was about to ask if Weasley did the same thing on his DADA assignments when Dumbledore and Minerva arrived. 

Poppy trailed behind them, looking stressed, vexed, and ready to hex someone at the same time. Pomona poured tea for them as they took their seats. "As you know Fluffy got loose and attacked a few students." 

Severus thought that was an understatement. The only reason no one was dead was that the Dark Lord and Severus killed the beast before it could.

*******Flashback******

Harry was spending the night in the dorm since it was a school night. Severus and the Dark Lord were researching different potions that Lily might have been on. The Dark Lord didn't have access to Lily's notes but he did remember what he read. 

The Dark Lord stood up. He sent the book that he was reading to the floor. "Someone is in with that beast." 

"Great, I told him it was dangerous." Severus and the Dark Lord didn't waste any time and made their way to the third floor. They were on the stairway to the second floor when they heard students screaming and a loud bark followed by growling. "It's loose." They started to run up the stairway as students were running down the stairs.

They pulled out their wands and made their way to where they heard screaming. They got off of the stairwell, raced down the hall. Severus slipped a bit on some blood. He almost fell over a prone student but managed to remain upright by smashing into the wall. Neither cared what Dumbledore would say as they started firing off the killing curse at the three-headed dog. The dog was throwing bodies around as it went after anything that moved. The dog had made it to the second floor leaving a long trail of mangled students. 

Once the beast was dead Severus sent a Patronus message to Poppy. He started healing with the aid of the Dark Lord. It wasn't until they had all the students on the way to the Infirmary that Severus noticed a petrified Harry staring at Severus covered in blood. 

Severus later learned that several of the students had gone up to the library to get books and had been caught in the panic of students screaming. Harry doing what he had been told, followed Gemma as she went to assist the running students. Harry had seen them kill the dog as it threw a student to the ground.

*****************End Flashback*****************

"How many were injured?" Filius wasn't looking forward to writing letters to the parents of his Ravenclaw students that were injured.

"63 students. Thankfully, all of them will make a full recovery, physically. The mind healers will arrive in a few days to talk to them." Poppy glared at Dumbledore. They had spent several hours working on healing the injured students.

"Do you know what happened?" Pomona had spent most of last night and part of the early morning hours comforting her Puffs. Some of them had horrible nightmares. 

"It was a bit of a misguided adventure combined with a combination of a mispronounced spell with a correct spell. Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger decided to explore what Albus hid on the third floor. In their panic, Ron uttered a spell wrong while Hermione opened the door at the same time. The spell Ron used released the chain holding Fluffy." 

"Fluffy?" Severus closed his eyes. "Tell me that it wasn't one of Hagrid's pets?"

"I'm afraid it was. Hagrid is devastated by it." Dumbledore had spent the morning trying to figure out what happened. He had calmed Hagrid down. The man was full of grief and guilt. Grief his pet died yet guilt that his puppy caused so many to be hurt.

"You allowed Hagrid to have that type of dangerous animal here. You placed it on the third floor. Proceed to announce to a school full of dunderheads that the area you placed it in was off limits for fear of a painful death. I just want to make sure I have my facts correct." Severus really couldn't believe the old fool. He was suddenly very thankful that Harry wasn't a Gryffindor and wasn't friends with the dunderhead named Ron Weasley. He would strangle Dumbledore later for even thinking about laying this test out for Harry. 

Dumbledore wisely, for a change, said nothing. He had already heard from the Board. Hagrid had been close to being fired but Dumbledore was able to stop it. Hagrid was going to have to get rid of any pet not deemed safe by the Ministry. He had been issued a warning. If a student had died or does die, Hagrid and he would be up on charges. 

"Hagrid has to get rid of anything not deemed safe by the Ministry. I will be the one approving any new pets he acquires." Minerva inhaled deeply. "Mr. Weasley and Miss Granger will be suspended once they recover. Their families will be paying the medical expenses." 

"What will it take to get Mr. Weasley expelled?" Mrs. Pince asked. "That boy has been nothing but trouble since he arrived." 

"He is also cheating." Severus helpfully added. "He copies Miss Granger's works and submits it as his own." 

"I'm aware of it but I thought it was only my class. I had set up a meeting with his parents to discuss it with them for tomorrow." Minerva knew the only reason Ronald Weasley was still allowed at Hogwarts was due to the fact that his parents were members of the Order. 

"Mmmmiiinnne too." Quirrell piped in, as others agreed. No one really said anything before because they were aware of how Dumbledore treated his Gryffindors over the other houses. They knew that if you were a favored Gryffindor you could do no wrong in the man's eyes.

Severus nudged the Dark Lord. They both felt it. Soon the lounge door was opened and Harry carrying his stuffed bat entered. "Bat, Bat." Harry did a running jump start and landed on Severus' lap. "Doggy dream." 

Draco and Neville were right behind the boy. "Sorry, we tried to stop him, but-" Draco trailed off looking at the staff. 

"That is fine Draco. I should have given the three of you a small dose of Dreamless Sleep." Severus had Harry latched onto him. The Dark Lord summoned a blanket as it was a bit chilly to be out wearing just sleepwear. Draco and Neville had robes and slippers on. Harry just had his pajamas and nothing on his feet. Severus had hoped the boys would sleep more than an hour or so.

Poppy had ordered some Dreamless Sleep from St. Mungos because they were dangerously low due to the vast number of students who needed a good night sleep without nightmares. Dumbledore had canceled classes for the day. "I will see if we can get more from St. Mungos."

"I have already arranged for my seventh years to assist me in making more tomorrow." Severus noticed several of the staff looking at Dumbledore as if to say this is your fault. "I will put him back to bed. Draco, Neville, I will make you some hot chocolate."

____________________________________________________________________________

Severus was looking forward to the Yule holiday. Harry didn't seem excited by it but Severus knew why. So the Dark Lord and Severus set out to make it the best first Yule that Harry could have. It has been a rough few weeks. Students were slowly recovering mentally from their ordeal. Physically none of them were permanently damaged. There were a few who would have scars from the dog but the scare would, hopefully, fade a bit. 

Weasley was now officially on probation. It had taken a lot of work on Lucius' part. The Ministry and a lot of irate parents forced the Board not to cave to Dumbledore and his "it was an innocent adventure gone wrong" attitude. Especially when parents submitted their children's memories of the Welcoming Feast and Weasley's attitude. 

The Grangers issued a warning to their daughter, Minerva, and Dumbledore. Another event like this or any bullying they would be withdrawing their daughter. They paid for extra mind healers for students in addition to offering to pay for any tutors that might be needed for anyone injured. 

The Dark Lord and Severus kept on meeting and researching. They were a bit surprised at the lengths Dumbledore was willing to go. They weren't surprised, after all, he did kill the Potters but to allow that beast into the school as a test for Harry was a bit extreme. They did wonder why Dumbledore didn't revamp the testing. When they saw Neville talking to Granger, they realized Dumbledore was going to work on making Neville the next Savior if Harry couldn't be "fixed". 

"Bat, it's snowing." Harry peeked into Severus' lab. The door was opened as Severus was only putting away ingredients. 

"So it is."

"Bat, do I have to shovel all that?" Harry was nervous about all the snow that was building up on the ground. He knew Hogwarts a vast amount of walkways.

"What? No, Hagrid will take care of that. We could, however, build a snowman." 

"Really?" Harry's eyes went big. "We get the pair and others to come?" 

"I believe we can do that." Severus knew who Harry referred to. When Harry said the pair he meant the Dark Lord and Quirrell. 

Harry started bouncing in place as Severus finished. Harry was asking all kinds of questions about snow.


	7. Chapter 7

Severus and the Dark Lord guided Harry and his friends outside. Harry's friends just happened to equal about 75 percent of the students. The idea of building a snowman and the possibility of a snowball fight spread. Harry was laughing as he was rolling snow into a ball. Hogwarts looked like they now had a snowman army. 

"I think we should have gotten more adults." Quirrell knew the students were going to take advantage of just him and Severus watching them. 

"Bat, Bat, look!" Harry was covered in snow. "We need carrots for noses." He pointed to his snowman. "Look! We built it."

Draco and Neville were standing next to Harry. "Uncle Severus, we need something for eyes and a hat." 

"It can be arranged." Severus began to summon the required items. Students seemed to have overcome any fear of Severus outside of the classroom. 

Someone threw a snowball and a snowball fight started. Severus and the Dark Lord built walls out of snow and Harry and his snakes launched their offensive against the rest of the school. Severus helped set-up his snakes with a spell to launch multiple snowballs at once. Harry leaned close to the Dark Lord. "Pair, we have hot chocolate after?" Harry spoke very softly. 

"I am sure we can manage that." The Dark Lord answered softly. He really hated the stuttering.

__________________________________________________________________________

Severus was sitting on his couch. The Dark Lord was sitting in the chair opposite him. "I'm exhausted."

"I believe they enjoyed themselves." Severus knew it was Harry's first Yule. "We still have presents to wrap and put together." 

"I got him an animated book on all the different bats around the world." The Dark Lord had really bought the book and spent a few weeks animating the book. He wasn't going to admit that aspect. "Lucius and Narcissa have been collecting different holiday movies for them to watch over Yule." 

"Narcissa sent me a list of things she wanted answers for. The list had questions about his favorite food to what to avoid." 

\------------------------------------------------

"Draco, you snoring, again." Harry had been trying to get Draco to roll over. Draco kept on snoring and sleeping. 

They were staying at Malfoy Manor. Harry and Draco were sharing a room. Harry went back to his bed, grabbed his stuffed bat. His Big Bat would wake Draco up. Harry exited the bedroom and headed down the hall. He was trying to remember which room his bat was to be sleeping in. He thought he had the right door but it wouldn't open. 

"BAT!!!!" Harry screamed. "BBBBBAAAAAAAAAATTTTTTTTTTTTT."

Every single door opened. "Harry, shhhh, I got you." Severus picked Harry up, wrapping him in his arms. Severus started walking back toward his bedroom. Everyone following behind him. Severus kept talking calming nonsense to Harry as he walked him around his room. He wasn't sure what everyone else was doing but he could see them moving around. He couldn't really hear them because Harry was still being rather loud. "Harry, what happened?" 

"Draco snores, he snores, so loud." Harry didn't stop repeating himself.

"Severus, perhaps a calming draught?" Narcissa didn't approach them but asked as quietly as she could. 

"No, while they would calm him down they don't actually stop the mental meltdown. It returns in a bigger force later." Severus had learned that by accident. "Little Bat, you're safe." Severus saw the Dark Lord was rearranging the blankets on his bed. The Dark Lord knew the routine. So while Severus was working on calming Hary down the Dark Lord was gathering Harry's comfort things. Harry's blanket was added to the bed. Nagini was curled up at the end of the bed. 

"I couldn't find you. You were gone." Harry tightened his hold. 

"I'm here. I won't leave you." Severus reassured Harry. Harry was still muttering about Severus' being gone. "You're safe. See even the Dark Lord is here."

"The doors wouldn't open. Like being under stairs." Harry had his arms wrapped around Severus. The adults all understood what the trigger was. Harry had been locked in the cupboard by his relatives and it wasn't something he would be getting over with anytime soon. 

"Lucius, Narcissa, why don't you take Draco and go back to bed." The Dark Lord could see that Draco was sleeping between Lucius and Narcissa on the settee.

"Is there anything we can do?" Lucius picked up Draco. 

"No, he will be asleep soon." The Dark Lord escorted the Malfoys to the door. Severus was still walking Harry, running his hand up and down Harry's back.

"Severus, he looks like he is sleeping." The Dark Lord said several minutes later. 

"He is still awake. His emotions are calmer. He is exhausted." Severus carried Harry to his bed and tried to lay him down but Harry wouldn't let go of Severus. 

"I think you are going to have a limpet attached to yourself for the night." The Dark Lord pulled the blankets back further. Severus sat down on the bed. The Dark Lord removed the man's slippers and helped get him out of his robe. "He might sleep late tomorrow."

"Draco will wake us in a few hours." Severus was grateful for the Dark Lord's assistance in getting into bed. As the Dark Lord went to stand up, he found that Harry had a death grip on his own bathrobe. 

"Pair." Harry muttered a bit as he nuzzled into Severus. 

"I'm here, Harry, you're safe." The Dark Lord kissed Harry on the top of his head. "Go to sleep. You have presents to open in the morning." 

Severus settled into a comfortable position as the door to his room closed. 

 

____________________________________________

Severus groaned a bit when Draco knocked on his bedroom door. Harry was still curled into him. Harry had his elbow dug into his side. Harry was laying on his side, his head laying on Severus' chest. "Harry, time to get up." 

Severus was looking forward to Harry opening his presents. They had put each present into a gift bag or box. They feared that Harry might not like the feel of some of the wrapping paper and also didn't want to overload him on all of the different types of paper. Simple was better with Harry. "Don't you want to see what Santa got you?" 

Severus held up a groan as he got an elbow into his stomach as Harry sat up. "It's time, my Bat?"

"Yes, it's time to see what you got for being such a good boy this year. You did all of your assignments, you studied, and you didn't get into any trouble. You have been such a good little bat."

_________________________________________________________

Harry was holding onto Severus' hand. His eyes big as he took in all the newly put up Christmas decorations that the elves had put up overnight. The Christmas tree was twinkling. There were presents under the tree. Everyone was still in the nightwear. 

"So pretty." Narcissa had decorated most of the Manor but didn't put up the Christmas tree or the lights until the night before. Part of it was to keep Harry from going into a sensory overload while waiting to make sure the boys enjoyed their Christmas. 

"It's present time." Draco was very eager for his. He had woken his parents up an hour or so ago and wisely didn't try to wake the other three people in the house. 

"Go ahead." Severus gave Harry a bit of a nudge toward the tree. 

Harry gently touched the tree and the ornaments. He giggled a bit. "It's real." 

"Yes it is. So are the presents under the tree." Draco latched onto a present. He read the tag. 

"Start passing them out Draco but no one opens a gift until everyone has one." Narcissa instructed. She knew her son well enough to know the boy would open all his gift before anyone even got a present. Harry was still petting the tree, as that would best describe his actions of gently running his hands over the tree branches. "Harry?" 

"Dudley always got a tree." Harry continued touching. "I never got to touch it without getting into trouble." 

Harry sat down on the couch as Draco started to read the name tags of the presents. Harry was a bit surprised when Draco handed him a gift. "Me?"

"Yes, Batboy, you. See I told you." Draco gave Harry a grin. "It's from your Bat."

Severus ignored Draco as he watched Harry gently caress the box wrapped in silver paper with black bats on it. He had gotten it at Halloween and thought Harry would love it for Christmas. "Go ahead, open it." 

"It's really for me?" Harry quietly ask. 

"Yes. So go ahead and rip the paper off and see what you got." Draco was almost bouncing in his own eagerness. 

Harry, with a painstaking slowness that was going to kill Draco, opened his present. He stared at the box until the little black thing in the box meowed at him. "A kitty!" Harry picked up the kitten. He cuddled it into his chest as the box fell to the floor. 

"Draco helped pick him out." Severus and Draco had spent weeks looking for the right type of cat, not a kitten, that would be beneficial for Harry. Minerva had suggested a cat breeder. The breeder had a few cats that she felt would work and Draco and Severus gave it the Harry test. Which meant that Severus made Draco carry the cat around for at least a good ten minutes, followed by sitting down and just kept petting the cat. "He is a little over a year old and his name is Chaos." Severus wasn't sure that the name fit the cat but he knew Harry loved his new cat. 

"Chaos." Harry lost interest in the rest of the presents as he held his new cat. 

Draco returned to giving out presents. They all got clothes, books, some personal items. "Harry, one last one. It's from Neville."

"Plant boy got me a gift." Harry touched the bright green wrapping paper. It had dancing reindeers on the paper. Harry was feeling a bit overwhelmed by all the gifts. "I got a gift from a friend."

"What we aren't friends?" Draco's voice took on a hurt tone.

"No, we not friends." Harry kept touching the present. Chaos was laying down between Severus and Harry. "We family. Bat is Mommy, Pair is Daddy, Cissa is Aunt, Luc is Uncle, you're brother." Harry hadn't looked up but if he had, he would have seen a range of emotions from shock to joy. Draco, not one to hold back, hugged Harry. "Too tight." Harry pulled away.


	8. Chapter 8

"Bat, I don't want to go back." Harry was petting Chaos. They would be leaving in the morning to return to Hogwarts.

"Why?" Severus knew Harry enjoyed classes and friends. "We will be there. You don't want to stay with me?"

"I do but that mean Weasel is there." 

"Yes, that is true. However, we will be there, as always. Draco, the Dark Lord, Neville, Chaos, and me. Let's not forget everyone at Hogwarts who would miss you."

"I get to keep my new name?" Harry looked at Severus.

"Always, my Little Bat." 

*************Flashback**********************  


Severus was waiting in Lucius' office for the man to return. He was hoping it would be good news. It was originally Poppy's idea but he wanted to do it.

"He's not back yet?" The Dark Lord entered Lucius' office. "Where is Harry?"

"No, he's not. I'm worried about how long it's taking. Harry is with Draco, Blaise, Theo, and Neville down in the garden. Nagini went with them." He knew the Dark Lord would want Nagini to be with Harry. 

"Severus, it will be done. One way or another."

Severus, who had been trying to read his new potion magazine, closed it. "If Dumbledore-"

"He can't do a thing." The Dark Lord sat down on the chair opposite Severus. "Severus, it will work out. Dumbledore will pitch a fit but you have Poppy, Lucius, me, and everyone else behind you." 

Severus felt some of his tensions release. "I still have to tell Harry." 

"Like he is going to say no. He already calls you his, and well, he thinks of you-"

"Don't you dare say it. Also, remember what he called you." Severus ignored the knowing smirked the Dark Lord gave him. The man had been very strange since Severus learned who was sharing a body with Quirrell. "When do you plan on doing your return?"

"Nice change of subject. I was thinking of the first full moon after we leave Hogwarts for our summer holiday. I don't want the old fool to wonder what is going on."

"True. Dumbledore has put the course in place but not whatever he plans on hiding." Severus knew Dumbledore wasn't about to inform him of any of his plans.

"I wonder who he will try to con into doing the course. The Know-It-All and Weasel don't have any friends."

"Good, your both here." Lucius entered his office. "Narcissa has gone to retrieve Harry." Lucius sat down on the couch. 

"It got approved?" Severus was shocked. He thought Dumbledore would have done whatever he could have to stop it from happening. He knew Dumbledore wouldn't want anyone to have control over Harry but himself. An elf appeared in the room with some tea.

"Yes. Dumbledore tried to stop it. Poppy submitted Harry's first medical exam and the one she did right before the Yule break along with other reports stopping his alternate arrangments. Poppy had gathered all of Harry's reports, his physical, mental, and even his educational. I had the Board send in the reports about the behavioral issues the Weasley family was having with their youngest son. Dumbledore's worst enemy was Molly Weasley. Apparently, Arthur Weasley informed her of the hearing. She stormed in during the meeting. I should add at a very good point for us. We were in the middle of discussing her son and she went on a tangent about her son trying to defend him, Harry Potter, Slytherin, and how ashamed the Potters would be about their son being cared for by Severus Snape."

"Dumbledore?" The Dark Lord wondered what Dumbledore tried to do to fix Molly's rants. Lucius had made sure they had the support for this plan before Lucius had presented it. Minister Fudge and Madam Bones backed this move and that aided Poppy's idea.

"Dumbledore wasn't very happy. Molly's ranting got the few who would have voted for Dumbledore to change their minds. Dumbledore tried to rally but Lady Longbottom had some mind healers from St. Mungos near. They spoke on Severus and Harry's behalf. They explained about the connection Severus has with Harry. The Mind Healers backed up their opinions with facts. They even provided some muggle scientific reports. Dumbledore tried to counter by saying it wasn't verified and tried to delay the request by demanding an expert opinion on the report. Lady Longbottom brought out three squib scientists and had them explain everything, which is what took so long." Lucius had been a bit surprised when Poppy had written to him a few months ago with her request for aid.

"Bat, Bat, look." Harry held up a jar filled with moss. "We make a potion later?" Narcissa was grinning from the doorway.

"Uncle Severus, we collected a lot of ingredients. Neville showed us all the plants we could gather." Draco held up a few different bags of ingredients. "We even dug up some flobberworms." Blaise held up the jar filled with dirt and the worms.

"The gardens are wonderful. Lady Malfoy is going to send some samples home for me to grow." Neville already cut the samples for his greenhouse.

"Wonderful. Why don't you put the ingredients in my lab? We need to speak to Harry." Harry climbed into his lap, still holding the jar. "Give it to Draco, Harry." Harry tightened his hold on the jar. "We will make a potion later."

Harry still didn't want to hand the jar over. "Harry, I will help too." The Dark Lord knew that would work. Harry loved when the three of them worked on potions together. "This is very important." 

"Oh, sounds bad." Harry looked at them. His face showed his confusion at seeing their happy faces. "You happy, so not bad." Harry was still working on figuring out positive emotions. He mastered negative emotions to survive in the Dursley household. 

"Yes, very good news." Severus watched Draco receiving the jar of moss. "Draco, I'm sure the four of you can put everything away in the right spots." 

"We can, Sir." Theo reassured Severus. 

"Go. I'm sure Narcissa will have some treats for a job well done." Lucius smiled as the four boys left. 

"Me too, Bat?" Harry looked at the Dark Lord. "Pair?" 

"You too, Harry, but after we chat." The Dark Lord smiled.

"Harry, how would you like it if I was your father?" Severus felt Harry tense.

"But you my Bat. I'm your Little Bat." 

"That won't change. I will be your father so that no one can remove you from me." Severus felt Harry relax. 

"But you the mommy. Pair is the daddy." 

Severus glared at Lucius, who laughed as the Dark Lord smirked. "Harry, you can call me your Bat if you want. However, please do not call me Mommy outside of this Manor. If you agree, your name will be Snape." 

"It will! I want to be Snape. What will my new name be?" Harry bounced a bit on Severus' lap. 

"Harry Snape." Severus watched Harry process the information.

"No, no, won't work. Need a new name for new name. Yes, new name, need new name."

They could see Harry was excited about the news. "Harry, there is a potion that will us true father and son." Severus made the potion to give Harry for Yule. Since the paperwork wasn't approved he had held off giving Harry the potion and the news. 

"New name for new son for new daddy....Yes, a new name. We need new name."

The Dark Lord wanted to laugh. Harry wasn't going to settle down until they got him a name. "What name do you want, Harry?"

"You and mommy pick. Harry is gone. He now a Snape." Harry leaned back against Severus. "Pick." 

Lucius started laughing, again. 

****************End Flashback************************************

"Severus, how could you?" 

Severus turned and found Dumbledore standing in the doorway of his office. "Excuse me?"

"You could have told me you were going to adopt Harry Potter." Dumbledore entered into Severus' office. 

"It's Sebastian Snape." Severus didn't bother with his son's full new name. Dumbledore didn't need the information and he didn't want to give Dumbledore any name for him to use in a ritual. 

"He needs to be Harry Potter. We need him to be our Savior. He needs to be able to defeat Tom when he returns." 

Severus sighed. "Albus, I'm going to say this once. My son will not be involved in any scheme you come up with. I will not have him lead out like a lamb to slaughter. He won't be your lamb." 

"I would never." 

Severus slammed down the words he wanted to scream at Dumbledore. The words were about the abuse he knew students, including himself, had endured because of Dumbledore. The abuse he subjected his son to endure for years. The stealing of monies from his son's vaults. Now wasn't the time. "He needed someone, Albus. I'm the one he connected with, not you. You have done everything in your power to alienate the boy by allowing Ron Weasley to torment him. His mother, no better." 

"You could have talked to me beforehand. I would have aided." 

"I heard how you supported it." 

Dumbledore wisely said nothing about the meeting. "Is he returning here?"

"Yes. He is reading in my quarters with Draco and Neville." 

"Good, very good." Dumbledore started to leave, at the door, he stopped. "Severus, I never wanted him hurt."

Severus knew Dumbledore meant that he never wanted Harry Potter unable to fulfill the role or course of action that Dumbledore wanted him to follow. 

_______________________________________________________

Severus woke up as he felt Bast climb into bed with him. Since it was Sunday night, Severus wasn't surprised. 

"Bat, where is Pair?" 

"I imagine he is sleeping in his quarters. It's late." 

"Why don't you and him share room like Uncle Lucy and Aunt Cissy?" 

Severus wasn't going to get over his son's nicknames, especially Lucius. He was sure that he and the Dark Lord would forever remember Lucius' face when he was called Lucy by Bast. He didn't think they would need a pensive to remember it. "Well, we aren't married." 

"Oh, you best do it, soon." 

Severus got hit in the face by his son's stuffed bat and felt Chaos jump on the bed. He waited for everyone to get settled. He wasn't in his favorite position or really in the most comfortable position for sleeping but he wouldn't give it up.


	9. Chapter 9

Severus wished he had followed Sebastian's idea about not returning. He was sitting in his office after taking another headache potion. He looked up as someone popped into the room. He saw Draco, Neville, and Sebastian with Tina releasing them. "Uncle Severus, you look like something a cat wouldn't drag in." 

"My Bat has old man bothering him." Sebastian was standing between Neville and Draco. Tina was now by the door waiting for Sebastian.

"Perhaps we better take Bastian to the common room." Neville wasn't afraid of Severus but had a feeling he needed some quiet time.

"I'm fine. I took a potion." Severus watched Tina pop away as his son moved around the desk. Sebastian began to pull out his books and put them on Severus' desk. "How were your classes?" Severus watched the books get stacked neatly on top of each other. 

"Good. Weasley and Granger have been trying to get Bastian to answer to Harry. They kept insisting that he is Harry Potter despite everyone using Sebastian Snape. Bastian at one point stuck his tongue out and told them "no, no, my name is my new name." Draco had enjoyed the surprised look on Granger and Weasley's faces when Sebastian stuck his tongue out.

"Yes, Bat, they not bright. Look, I got an O again." Sebastian held up his Charms essay. "Little Professor said I did an excellent job, no spelling mistakes." Sebastian put the essay squarely on the desk. The essay didn't touch anything else. 

"Very good. You certainly are earning your Chocolate Frogs this week." Severus watched the faces of Draco and Neville. "What happened?" He knew Sebastian had his own way of doing things. Books always had to be stacked neatly on top of each other. Parchment couldn't touch the books or other things. Severus at first thought it was OCD but after reading some more books recognized it for what it was. Sebastian had never really got to control his world with the Dursley's, and with autism, he developed certain habits to give himself some control. 

"Granger was speaking to Weasley, in the library." Draco and Neville sat down in the chairs opposite Severus' desk. 

"Yeah, she is loud." Sebastian pulled opened the top drawer of Severus' desk and got out the color pencils Severus kept in there for the boys to use when he had detentions. They would stay in his office while he went next door to his Potion classroom to supervise the detention. The door between the two room would remain slightly ajar. 

"Loud is an understatement. We heard her mentioning that Dumbledore was going to try and get her hired to tutor Sebastian. Dumbledore is going to use the Board to get it official. She is going to be paid. Weasley laughed, commented about getting paid to babysit Sebastian while she did the work for Sebastian." Draco knew this information was important and knew the only reason why they heard it was because the library was quiet and the two idiots didn't realize they were on the other side of the bookcase. Sebastian was always quiet in the library. He usually whispered when he spoke as he followed Mrs. Pince's rule about being quiet.

"I do my own work. My Bat and Pair would be upset if I didn't." Sebastian looked at Severus. "Bat never does my work."

"Yes, you do. I'll firecall Lucius and warn him." Severus knew the old fool was up to something when he kept showing up over the last two days asking him a variety of questions about Sebastian's education. He had believed the man was going to get one of his Order members to either review or watch Sebastian's work to make sure Sebastian would be able to remain at Hogwarts. Dumbledore didn't want Sebastian to leave and was fearful that if Sebastian couldn't do the work that Severus might withdraw him. Minerva and each of the other staff members always spent time with Sebastian to make sure he understood everything. Minerva and Filius usually spending up to an hour or so a week with Sebastian. Pomona didn't have to spend as much time as Sebastian and the plants loved each other.

"See Bat fix." Sebastian had put out three sets of the colored pencils on the desk, pulled out the old parchment, and was now making sure the pencils had the same colors in each set and were sharpened. "Detention?"

"Yes, I have a few coming. School work?" 

"You check but we finished." Sebastian nudged his satchel. His finished work always stayed in his satchel until Severus checked it and then it went back in until he could turn it in. "Plant Boy and Dray done too. The library was quiet except for Mouthy and Red." 

Neville didn't even try to hide his laughter at the new names as Draco let out a small giggle. "What are we drawing tonight?" Draco moved to the smaller table that Severus set up in the room for them to use. 

"We need to draw a few different plants for extra credit, why not them?" Neville wasn't the greatest at drawing but he did love plants. 

"True and it would drive Granger bonkers if we turned them in before the deadline." Draco liked that idea. 

"You decide what you want to draw, I'll be next door supervising. Professor Quirrell might stop by. Let him know where I am when he does." Severus wanted to speak to the Dark Lord about Sebastian's idea that they get married. 

"He coming soon. He promised to show me how to do the wand work for the new spells." Sebastian looked around the room as he held up his wand. "I have it." 

Severus did a slight chuckle. Sebastian usually forgot his wand outside of classes or his session with a professor. He preferred his stuff bat or Potions to his wand. "Very good. Now if you would carry with you all the time." 

"I was thinking about that. Perhaps we could find a wand holder for his arm that he won't object too. Perhaps in his favorite color." The Dark Lord was standing in the doorway. They had tried some of the wand holders they owned but Sebastian didn't like them. The Dark Lord held up a purple wand holder.

"Pretty." Sebastian watched the Dark Lord walk toward them, his eyes glued to the wand holder. The Dark Lord held it out to him. Sebastian didn't take it right away but slowly touched it. "Oh, not hard" as he leather bent a bit. He moved it a bit more with his finger. "Mine?" 

"Yes." The Dark Lord placed it on Severus' desk. 

Sebastian prodded it. He moved it around before he finally picked it up. "Soft." 

Severus saw the holder was purple suede leather. He arched a brow at the Dark Lord. "I had Ollivander make one for his wand. He even dyed it purple." 

"Wand guy made this for me? I wanted a purple wand. He didn't have any purple sticks for a wand." 

******Flashback******

Severus was escorting Harry to get his wand. He had already ordered everything else using his own house elf and mail order. However, a wand was the one thing they couldn't mail order. They were currently walking to the apparition point outside of Hogwarts and Severus was going to apparite them directly to Ollivander's. They had arranged a time for Ollivander to allow them to apparate directly into his store.

"Bat, why wand?

"So you can do magic. While I know you have done magic before a wand will allow you to learn spells and use them." Severus had already experienced some of Harry's accidental magic when Dumbledore had tried to get Harry to stay with someone else.

"A stick does all that?" 

"Yes, it does."

_________________________________________________

"I want a purple stick." Harry rushed his words out as he leaned closer to Severus. "Messy, messy, messy. Auntie wouldn't like." 

Severus put a reassuring hand on Harry's shoulder. He really wanted to kill Petunia. "We need to find a wand that fits Harry." He knew this was going to be an ordeal. Harry had been processing everything Hogwarts was throwing at him fairly well. He got along with the Professors and other staff, as long as no one else touched him. Severus was the only one allowed. Harry was doing well on adjusting to Draco and Neville, which Severus knew would make it easier for Harry once the students arrived. 

Draco and Neville were at Hogwarts almost daily and joined Severus, Minerva, and Filius on getting ready for Hogwarts. Minerva worked on getting theory down while Filius worked on the concept of magic. Severus showed the boys how to do basic potion ingredients and how to collect the ingredients. He enjoyed showing them that while they didn't need a wand to work potions, magic was indeed needed. The three Professors watched the confidence in Harry and Neville grow, especially when Draco praised Neville and Harry for a job well done. 

"Yes, yes, Mr. Potter, I was expecting you to visit with everyone else but no matter. Now, which arm is your wand arm?" 

Harry tilted his head up at Severus. "Bat, I thought you said stick was wand?" 

"It is. He means which hand do you write with as that is usually what hand you hold your wand in."

Harry gave Ollivander a strange look as the man fretted a bit. Severus held up his own arm and pulled back his sleeve to show Harry his wand and wand holder. Harry held up his right arm. Harry's eyes bugged out when the tape measure flew into the air. Harry started to swat at it to keep it away from him. Harry started to run away from it as the tape measure chased him. 

"Stop the tape measure." Severus ordered as he intercepted Harry and pulled the boy into his arms and using his back to keep the tape measure away. 

"Oh dear." Ollivander corralled his tape measure. 

Severus calmed Harry down by running his hand up and down Harry's back. "You're safe, my little bat." He cast a glare at Ollivander when the man started to approach them.

"Mr. Potter, why don't you remain there. I'll get some wands and see if we can match you." 

Severus kept his body protecting Harry as Ollivander disappeared from view. He used the time to soothe Harry. "No tape measure, Harry. It's gone." Harry looked around Severus but didn't move away from Severus which surprised him. 

Ollivander returned with some boxes. Harry looked at the boxes. "No purple?"

"I do apologize, Mr. Potter but I have never been able to find a purple tree." Ollivander held out a wand. "Take it and give it a wave." 

Thirty-five wands later they found Harry's wand. Of course, it involved three screams of terror as the wands reacted to Harry's magic by setting off small fires. Ten eyes bulging as Harry dropped the wands when they shot sparks out of the ends. Two melted wands and twenty wands that didn't do anything. Ollivander produced a wand made of Fir with Horned Serpent Horn as the core.

"Yes, it fits Mr. Potter. Fir, as my august grandfather, Gerbold Octavius Ollivander, always called wands made of this wood ‘the survivor’s wand,’ because he had sold it to three wizards who subsequently passed through mortal peril unscathed. I believe Mr. Potter is a survivor. Now, Horned Serpent Horn is usually used by Ilvermorny School of Witchcraft and Wizardry founder Isolt Sayre. I received this years ago, as a gift, as the wands made from this core were exceptionally powerful. They were also sensitive to Parseltongue and will warn its owner of danger by emitting a low musical tone. 12 inches, good length for Mr. Potter." 

Harry held the wand. "What's Parseltongue?" 

"I will explain that later." Severus wanted out of the shop. While Harry wasn't about to have a total meltdown he was still highly sensitive. 

"Albus is going to be surprised." Ollivander muttered.

"What?" Severus heard the man. People never realized how important good hearing was when it came to catching students and spying.

Ollivander held up a box. "I was to have Mr. Potter try this wand but it's not meant for Mr. Potter. I knew that after the first three wands. The wood was all wrong for Mr. Potter."

"I believe I want the whole story." Severus still had Harry protectively wrapped under him. He should have known that Dumbledore had something planned regarding a wand for Harry. The man had been too helpful when Severus mentioned getting Harry a wand. 

"This wand is Holly, 11" with a core of a Phoenix Feather. It's nice and supple. It's the brother of You-Know-Who's wand. They share the same core. The core is a tail feather from Fawkes. I got the second feather a few years ago. Albus expected the wand to go to young Mr. Potter. He seemed sure it would. Shame, it's not often I get feathers from Fawkes. He has only given me three, one burned up shortly after I received it."

"Indeed." Severus was going to kill a certain Headmaster if he thought that he could control Harry. "A wand holder?" 

"I have a few varieties. Nothing in purple. I have red, blue, green, and black." 

"Black will do. How much?" 

"The wand was a gift for me to sample the core so that is free of charge. The holder is two galleons." 

"Can we make the stick purple?" Harry held it out to Ollivander.

"No, I'm sorry. I don't have a way to change the color." 

"So no purple?" Harry tilted his head up to Severus. "You fix?" 

"No, it's not fixable. Since you have been very good, we can stop at Honeydukes and get a box of Chocolate Frogs as I promised." Severus knew it would change Harry's focus. The boy loved to watch the Frog do their first jump and the cards. Harry liked to line the cards up and watch the people in them disappear.

"Two Frogs after dinner?"

"Perhaps." 

**********End flashback*********************  


Severus watched the Dark Lord put the wand holder on Sebastian's arm. He wasn't really surprised that Sebastian would let the Dark Lord do it. Sebastian permitted the Dark Lord more leeway than anyone else except for Severus. "Now put your wand into the holder and I will show you how it works."

They heard the door to Severus' class open. "I will leave them in your capable hands." He watched Sebastian place his wand in the holder. He stood in the doorway as Sebastian followed the Dark Lord's directions on how to put the wand into the holder.

"Bat, look it's purple and soft." Sebastian held up his arm for Severus to see and touch. "I match Plant Boy and Dray." 

"I see that. What do you say to Quintas?" He knew Neville and Draco had been trying to get Sebastian to wear a wand holder. Now they wouldn't have to keep track of Sebastian's wand. 

"Thank you, Pair, I love purple." Sebastian kept touching the soft material. "Wand won't get lost and I won't forget it." 

"You're welcome. Mr. Longbottom, Mr. Malfoy, and Mr. Snape, shall we move this to the Defense classroom as I'm sure Severus would like his office to remain intact." 

"I need some help with the shield spell. I can get it to form but not stay." Draco liked this idea better than drawing plants.

"Me too. We can draw the plants tomorrow night." Neville needed help on Defense and wasn't about to turn down free time to learn get better.

"Pair, you said we work on holding a wand." 

"That we will. Let's leave Severus to his detentions."


	10. Chapter 10

Severus was sitting at the head table. He was watching the students as usual when he noticed Dumbledore was the one acting weird. Dumbledore had arrived late for lunch and stopped at the Gryffindor table. Dumbledore stopped by Granger and Weasley. He saw Dumbledore was telling them something that made them excited. The duo glanced over to his son. Severus knew what it was about. Dumbledore had been spending a few hours each day at the Ministry.

"He thinks it worked." The Dark Lord quietly told Severus.

"Yes. I can't wait to see his face when it backfires." Severus had already met with Lucius. Lucius and Lady Longbottom worked out the perfect plan to stop Granger or Weasley from getting near Sebastian. Sebastian, who refused to be called Harry, was sitting at the Slytherin table with Neville and Draco. 

Severus watched as Dumbledore took his seat and greeted everyone. "Severus, I do need to speak to you after lunch." 

"Certainly." Severus really didn't want to deal with Dumbledore throwing a temper tantrum. He ignored the low growl of the Dark Lord. It was Friday so his first year Slytherins didn't have any afternoon classes. Severus didn't want to change his son's normal routine of spending the afternoon with Severus in the lab or in the common room. "Do you think you can distract Bas? He will expect me to make a potion with him or be in the common room as normal."

"I will. I think he, Draco, and Neville are working on a plan for us to have a date night." Severus resisted the urge to roll his eyes. He remembered the very unsettling conversation of a month ago.

***************************Flashback*****************************

It was Sunday night so Severus knew that Draco and Neville would be sleeping in the dorm. Harry would be sleeping in his own bed in Severus' quarters. It was the only way to guarantee that Draco didn't wake Harry up with his snoring. The Dark Lord was due to arrive any minute to talk about Harry's latest idea of them being married.

Severus made some tea. He was about to place the tea tray down when he heard the knock. He glanced up and read Quirrell. He was going to have to ask how the man did that. After tea was served, Severus wasn't sure how to bring the subject up. "I'm not sure if Bas mentioned his latest idea."

"Which one?" The Dark Lord leaned back and enjoyed the flush of embarrassment that went across Severus' face. He knew what Severus meant. Harry had already asked him about marrying Severus. Thankfully, Harry was aware of his surroundings more than most students were when he asked questions like that. Harry was very good at separating when he could speak to him as the Dark Lord versus as Quirrell. 

"He believes we should get married. He actually told me we needed to hurry up and do it." Severus inhaled. "I just didn't want him to mention it in front of others." Harry kept secrets. Severus didn't like this new idea and was afraid Harry would be vocal about his "parents" getting married.

"I see." The Dark Lord smiled. "I don't see why we can't."

"What? I'm not getting married because my son wants it." Severus was a bit surprised. He had thought it was going to be a long conversation about how to get Harry off of the subject without revealing that they used to be a couple until the prophecy. 

"What if I want it? Severus, you know I never stopped-"

"Yes, I'm aware but that was then." Severus remembered how involved they were. He had fallen hard for the Dark Lord. Everything changed the night the prophecy was even spoken. His feelings concerning the Dark Lord were based on before he knew the truth. He cut off his feelings when he believed that two people he cared about were going to be in conflict with each other and he had believed that his Tom would kill his Lily. 

"Yes. I'm aware of that but it doesn't change my feelings. Has it changed yours? I do mean since you learned the truth and I've been back." 

Severus was a bit surprised. He hadn't really thought about his feelings toward his Tom since he had learned the truth. He thought about his feeling when he found Quirrell laying in the classroom. He didn't care about Quirrell but he didn't hesitate to help his Tom. The moment of panic at the idea of his Tom being gone forever had stirred him into action. He had been confused about Tom before that day. 

"Severus, I'm not saying let's get married this week. I'm saying let me court you like I originally did. Let's get to know each other again."

"No pressure?" Severus needed to re-evaluate his feelings but he knew he did care about Tom. Tom was the Dark Lord, Tom was a person, and Tom was his boyfriend from his past. He knew they were the same person. Severus had seen the many faces and loved them all until the blasted prophecy. 

"Severus, I promise no pressure. I never wanted to leave. I wish I had spoken to you about what was going on at that time. Dumbledore was watching you and Lily too closely. Lily was worried about you and so was I. She did love you like a brother."

"I did love her like a sister." Severus still missed Lily at times. He really missed her when he watched his son do something that was very Lily like. Harry had her gentle nature. He could see it when Harry was holding or petting Chaos, who wasn't at all like his name. Harry loved to read as Lily did. 

The Dark Lord smiled. "How about we do a Friday night date night. Saturday if we are on duty. I would love to take you out on Hogsmeade weekends. We don't have to leave the castle if you think Dumbledore might have a fit. We can also do things with Bast." 

"Hogsmeade works." Severus smiled. He also felt relieved and something he hadn't felt in a long time. He felt some hope for his future. 

**************End Flashback*************

Severus was heading out of the Great Hall. Severus walked down the side that Harry was sitting at the Slytherin table when Harry stopped him. "Bat." 

"Yes, Bas?" 

Harry waved his hand, indicating for Severus to come closer. When Severus leaned toward Harry, he whispered, "why are Mouthy and Red looking and grinning at me?" 

Severus wanted to curse. Damn Gryffindors. "They think they have outsmarted us but they haven't. Lucius and I have already fixed it." 

"Oh." Harry grinned. "Bad lions thinking they can outsmart a snake." 

"Exactly. Go to Professor Quirrell. He is going to show you, Draco, and Neville a new spell." Severus looked at Draco as he spoke. Letting Draco know that everything was handled. He saw Draco nod his head a bit.

"Come on, Bas. I bet we can get him to show us at least two more." Draco knew that would distract Harry. Neville grabbed some fruit for them to have later. The three boys knew the Dark Lord would teach them different spells from other countries too.

Severus was heading to his quarters to floo call Lucius when he saw him entering Hogwarts. Lucius glanced around the entrance as he walked toward Severus. "I figured he would wait to gloat until after lunch." 

"He didn't. I knew something was up the minute I saw him." Severus was going to enjoy this. "Augusta?" 

"Right here." Lady Longbottom stepped through the front doors. "Sorry for the delay. I was a bit delayed in leaving the house." 

"Glad you could make it." Severus knew Lady Longbottom wasn't going to allow Dumbledore any wiggle room.

The trio headed up to the Headmaster's office. They reached the fourth floor and found Draco with his wand out, pointed at Weasley. Neville had his wand pointed at Granger. Tina was standing by a very distraught Harry in a protective stance. Harry was rocking back and forth. "Master, they hit Little Bat." 

Severus picked Harry up. He was covered in something. Harry was mumbling but Severus didn't understand what he was saying. He felt Harry's thin legs wrap around his waist. Harry's arms and hands were still pressed into Harry's body. Harry's chin was resting on his chest. Severus pulled him as close as he could without hurting Harry and started to rub his back and whispered soothing words into Harry's ear.

"They what?" Lady Longbottom wasn't very happy to hear this news. She could see that Severus was working on calming Harry. Her ire was directed at the two Gryffindors.

"We were heading to Professor Quirrell's class when Granger grabbed Bas. She pulled him around to face her because we were ignoring them. When Bas pulled away he told her no touching and said his name was Sebastian. Granger then hit him. She called him Harry and told him his parents would be so disappointed in him. She told him that once she was teaching him that she wouldn't put up with this nonsense about not being Harry any longer or the fits." Draco explained.

"Weasley is the one who threw something at Bas when Granger forced Bas around. The potion bottle hit Bas on the head and broke. He is also the one who tried to hit Tina with a stunner." Neville added.

"No, it didn't happen like that. They are lying. Harry refused to answer to his name. I wanted to set up a teaching schedule for him." Granger defended them. "They are the ones with their wands out, not us."

"It's true, Master. What Masters Draco and Neville say. They did it. I was going to pop Little Bat to you but they already hit him." Tina was glaring at the two Lions. She summoned the broken potion bottle pieces. She handed them to Lucius. 

"All of you will come with us." Lucius wasn't going to hold back. This was it. Dumbledore dug his own grave with this. "Severus, you know what they threw at him?"

"Yes. A compulsion potion." Severus had been smelling it. "Idiots, you have to drink it. It doesn't work by throwing it at someone. If you caused my son to bleed you will be spending a few detentions with me." 

"March." Lady Longbottom was going to make sure this made it to the Board. Dumbledore was on thin ice and it was cracking.

"I'll send a Patronus to summon Poppy to the Headmaster's office." Lucius wanted the evidence and knew Dumbledore would find a way around it unless it was one of his "people". Lucius looked down at the broken potion bottle. Dumbledore was going to regret giving Weasley the potion. Tina cleaned up the area and popped away.

____________________________________________________________________

Dumbledore was a bit surprised when he saw the group enter his office. A group of very angry adults, a distressed Harry, Draco, Neville, Weasley, and Granger. Granger was defending herself for hitting Harry. Dumbledore could see Harry was covered in the compulsion potion as the boy's hair and clothes were still wet. Weasley looked guilty. He groaned, inwardly. Granger hitting Harry was bad enough. Covering Harry with a potion and Severus smelling it was going to make thing ten times worse. Seeing Lucius, Lady Longbottom, and Poppy made it a hundred times worse. 

Severus POV:

"Do cease your prattling, Granger." Severus had Poppy record the use of the potion. Severus knew he wasn't going to be able to put Harry down. He still hadn't been able to check Harry but Poppy ran a scan of Harry and didn't see any injuries. He held onto him and rub his hand up and down Harry's back. Poppy had run her scans, recording everything, while Lucius and Lady Longbottom gathered Draco and Neville's memories before they entered Dumbledore's office. Granger and Weasley were also scanned by Poppy. 

"Mr. Weasley care to explain why you threw a compulsion potion at Mr. Snape? Where you obtained it, to begin with?" Poppy stepped between Dumbledore and Weasley. She knew where the idiot boy got it from. "I'm waiting." 

"I found it at home." Weasley stammered out. "I thought it was a prank potion the twins use."

"I'm going to request the memory of you removing it from home, bringing it to Hogwarts, storing it, and then using it on Mr. Snape." Lucius knew the boy was lying. The boy was a lousy liar.

"I don't believe it's necessary. No one was hurt and the potion isn't any good." Dumbledore didn't want anyone to link the potion to him. Yes, he gave it to Granger and Weasley but he honestly thought Granger would have been smart enough to keep it away from Weasley. Throwing a potion at Harry. Waste of a good potion and it would now make Severus even more cautious.

"Miss Granger hit Mr. Snape and Mr. Weasley threw a compulsion potion on him. I'm going to support the request and I'm going to make sure Madam Bones hears about this." Lady Longbottom wasn't going to let Dumbledore get away with this. After numerous discussions with her grandson, she was revamping her opinion of Dumbledore, the Order, and how Dumbledore wanted to run Hogwarts.

"I will also be demanding an inquest." Severus added. Harry had moved his head and his face was now buried in Severus' neck, his hands had a death grip on Severus' robes. Severus could feel the bits of glass, some stickiness he hoped came from the potion, and his son's tears.

"I will be aid my support." Lucius held up six scrolls. One for Dumbledore, one for McGonagall, one for Severus, one for Weasley, one for Granger, and one to be filed for the Heads of Houses to review. Their parents would have their own copies delivered today.

"We originally came here to issue a restraining order on Miss Granger and Mr. Weasley. I certainly wish it was in effect when it this happened as I'm sure they would love a dose of their own bad behavior." Lady Longbottom enjoyed the surprise on Dumbledore's face. There was no way they were going to allow his pets near Harry. The duo was too violent and didn't care who they hurt. They had a very long detention record and many reports from staff regarding their behavior. "I'm sure Professor McGonagall will get her copy." 

Dumbledore nodded his agreement. 

"A what?" Weasley looked confused. It was his normal look.

"Why? You can't issue one against us. We haven't done anything to warrant that." Granger stamped her foot.

Lucius pulled out the smaller notices that would allow the staff to be aware of the situation without them receiving their own individual copies of the restraining order. He handed them to Dumbledore, Granger, and Weasley. The three of them would be responsible for giving them to any person they interacted with at Hogwarts that Harry also interacted with. It would alert the staff not to put the three of them in close proximity to each other. "Actually, you numerous violations of respecting Mr. Snape's person is the reason. No one deserves to be hit, followed, or teased by anyone."

Dumbledore took the copy of the notices and began to read the original restraining order. He groaned. They used the detention records, letters from students, and memories submitted to get the restraining order passed. "It's legal. Hermione, Ron, you need to put a drop of your blood on your individual Orders." 

Severus was still glaring at the pair. "It won't get you out of your punishment. If I knew that Albus wouldn't prevent it, I would be pushing for suspension for the pair of you for a week." 

"Actually, I'm going to go to the Board and make sure they are suspended, if they aren't." Lady Longbottom glared at Dumbledore.

"I will back you." Lucius could see that Harry was calming down. His head was still tucked into Severus' neck. Lucius noticed that Harry's body wasn't shaking and he didn't look all tensed up. "Calming Draught?" 

"I bought one with me." Poppy held up the potion. She carried a few in her medicine bag.

Severus took it in his hand but he couldn't give it to Harry as of yet. He needed Harry to be a bit more relaxed. He knew Harry wouldn't remove his face from Severus' neck until they were back in their quarters and Severus could give him his stuffed bat and Chaos nearby.

"I'm not going to tutor Harry? I can't be suspended." Granger looked down at the Order and began to read it. "It's not true I don't hit him. Yes, I did today but it was an accident." 

"Whatever gave you the idea that I would have allowed you to tutor my son? His name is Sabastian. That is part of your problem, Granger. You think you know what is best. If someone disagrees with you or you believe you are in the right, you hit them." Severus glared at Dumbledore. "You, expecting a first-year to tutor another first year? Have the lemon drops gone to your head?"

"I was doing what I thought was best."

"I'm his father. You have no say in what is best for my son. You better remember that in the future, Albus." Severus noticed Harry was beginning to react to his anger. Poppy opened a Calming Draught and held it to Harry's lips. Harry began to drink. Harry was tensing up. "I'm putting him to bed. I better not see you near him, ever, is that understood, Granger? Weasley?"

The duo was smart enough to realize that Snape wasn't joking. "Yes, sir." They replied. 

"Albus, expect a formal notice of the inquest later this week." Lady Longbottom waved Draco and Neville out of the room. 

They followed Severus down to his quarters. Harry still had his head buried. Quirrell was coming out of the dungeons. He arched a brow at seeing them. "I'll explain as soon as I put him to bed." 

"Draco, Neville, go to the common room." Lucius ordered as he followed Severus and the Dark ord into Severus' quarters. Lady Longbottom trailed behind them. 

"Well, Mr. Dark Lord, what are you going to do to get rid of that idiot of a Headmaster?" Lady Longbottom asked once everyone was inside. When they went to protest, she stopped them. "Lily told Alice. I think that is why they were targetted."


	11. Chapter 11

Lady Longbottom laughed at their faces. "Well, it's not often I can get one over on not only one Slytherin but three." She sat down on the couch. "I wasn't sure exactly who I was going to speak to. After reading Neville's letter combined with the change I saw him during the Yule holiday, I knew who was responsible. Severus and the Dark Lord. Sebastian and Draco who have been wonderful friends to him, which he needed."

The Dark Lord smirked. "Lady Longbottom, Lily spoke of Alice. Please call me Tom." The Dark Lord looked at Harry. Harry was covered with something. He arched a brow as he buried his anger. Someone had hurt Harry and judging from Severus' lack of expression it involved Dumbledore and his pets. He knew that Severus must have given Harry a calming draught. 

"Let me put him to bed. Lucius and Lady Longbottom can inform Tom of what happened." Severus headed to Harry's bedroom. "He won't sleep for long." He was going to find a way to make sure Dumbledore felt his displeasure. He used different potions to use on the old fool to keep himself calm as he had walked.

Severus put Harry on his bed, as Chaos jumped on the bed. The cat always seemed to know when it was needed and always managed to be there for Harry. Severus cast a quick cleaning spell and changed Harry into some fresh clothes. Severus summoned Harry's stuffed bat. Harry crawled under the covers, as Severus handed him his bat. Harry turned to lay on his side. He looked up at Severus. "You take a nap. We will be here when you wake up." Harry settled down once Chaos was curled up by Harry's lower back. Severus brushed the hair out of Harry's eyes. He was still amazed at how much Harry had wiggled his way into his heart. He rubbed Harry's back until he was sure Harry was sleeping. 

Severus entered his living area. The Dark Lord looked at him. "He fell asleep fast. He was exhausted. However, he won't sleep for long. What have you decided?" He was still doing his mental list. He was going to make sure Dumbledore's two pets would feel his displeasure when they returned to Hogwarts. 

"Tom brought up a few valid points. Ron Weasley said he got the potion from his house. Ron said he thought it was one of the twins' potions. Based on his potion marks combined with how well known his twin brothers are known for their pranks, Ron might have numerous memories." Lucius explained. "Molly is also known for making potions for healing. So I could see them having a potion storage area that Dumbledore or Ronald would claim that he found the potion mixed in and thought the twins were pranking their family." 

"Dumbledore would make sure of it. He would create the memories by simply having the boy do it over and over again. There is no way to determine the time or dates." Lady Longbottom had been subtly fighting Dumbledore for years. "Even if we were to compare the potions, Dumbledore would have the boy take a few compulsion potions mixed in with other ones. Even if we had Severus review the memories clarifying what potions he picked up, it won't make a difference." 

"He would. He knows how to cover up what he would consider a slight misunderstanding." Severus had a lot of experience with Dumbledore doing just that. "Also, he is knowledgeable enough about potions to craft a few prank potions that he would include in the memories." 

"Exactly. He would also use the fact that the magical restraining orders hadn't been issued, and now that they have it would resolve the issue." Lady Longbottom had been trying to think of a way around these issues. "My idea is that we don't the inquest. It would be useless. Dumbledore would use it against us later. He would claim that Lucius was dark and bigotted."

"Not to mention the Weasley-Malfoy feud. He likes to toss that out anytime I oppose anything Arthur Weasley submits no matter how stupid the idea is." Lucius had been able to keep many of Arthur Weasley's ideas from being funded. The latest one was the function of rubber ducks. "Rubber ducks." 

Lady Longbottom laughed. "Yes, that is an excellent example." Lady Longbottom had been one of the few Light supporters who voted against the funding. "Rubber ducks." Her vulture's head nodded its agreement. While she did agree they needed to keep track of what the latest advances in the muggle world, she didn't think they needed to spend useless money on things that didn't improve their world.

"So forgo the inquest, we save it for later. We keep track of everything. Tom's right as he will make it into a fight between Light and Dark or use a feud. Regarding Granger, he will say she is still adjusting to a new world. Go on his tirade about muggle-borns need understanding and it would be muggle-born bias from purebloods. He wouldn't say anything directly but his words would paint a picture of it being Slytherins against Gryffindor." Severus knew first hand how much Dumbledore favored his lions. "We are going to have to go slow."

"Agreed. He came to my house the other day. He strongly hinted that since Neville was not a squib and doing very well that Neville had a great future in fighting against the dark. He hinted at that prophecy but didn't mention them together." 

"So he is going to switch Sebastian and Neville's role." Lucius glanced at Tom. "He has been saying you are returning."

"I'm aware but I want to avoid a war. We don't need to spill any magical blood if we can help it. We have to find a way to get him out of power before the lemon drops fully rot his brain." 

"Getting him out of power will take time but it can be done. Augusta and I will have to be careful about how we play him in Wizenagamot and on the Board but we can influence a lot of others." 

"Agreed. Ted Tonk is one who has wanted to get a lot of classes returned." Lady Longbottom looked at Lucius. "We can set up a time to discuss how we want to do this." 

"I'll have Narcissa send you an invitation to tea." 

They suddenly heard Chaos meowing rather loudly. Severus was up and in Harry's room, followed by the Dark Lord. Harry was rocking back and forth on his bed, his arms wrapped around his legs, crying. Severus slowly approached the bed. "Little Bat?" 

Harry looked up. "You're here." He launched himself at Severus. Severus was able to catch Harry and keep them from crashing completely to the floor. Harry had his arms wrapped Severus. "Red kept saying you wouldn't want me. He said you I was a burden and that only they would take me." Harry tighten his hold. "I don't want to go with them. Don't make me go." 

The Dark Lord let out a low growl he helped Severus to Harry's bed. Severus was whispering to Harry that he wasn't getting rid of him. Harry looked up at him, finally. "Pair, you mad at me?" 

"No, Bas. I'm not mad at you. I'm upset that you go hurt." The Dark Lord gave Harry a reassuring smile. "Severus and I always tell you when you did something wrong. We would never be mad at you without explaining why."

Harry seemed to be thinking about the Dark Lord's words. "So you aren't getting rid of me liked they said?" 

"No, I'm not. I think Severus would string me up if I even thought of it. Besides we're family. A family we selected to make and create." The Dark Lord was going to find a way to curse Dumbledore's office. Perhaps make his lemon drops taste like salt. 

"Bas, I selected you to be my son. I selected you to be a Snape. Just remember they are dunderheads." Severus had Harry sitting on his lap with Chaos rubbing Harry's leg. 

"Dunderhead lions." 

"Exactly." Severus knew that Dumbledore and the two idiots were going to experience a curse from the Dark Lord.


	12. Chapter 12

The Dark Lord and Severus leaned over the cauldron. "Perfect. The other one will be ready in a few more minutes." Severus started to ladle the mixture into the candy molds. He watched the molds worked their magic and the potion turned into lemon drops. Lemon drops that were going to taste like salt, garlic, onion, beets, paprika, and curry, depending on which one Dumbledore took. However, the lemon drops would taste normal to everyone else.

"Dobby is waiting to replace them with his lemon drops." The Dark Lord already placed a curse on Dumbledore's office. The man was going to be permanently bald, beardless, and no matter what he wore it would feel like the itchiest, uncomfortable clothing imaginable. They wouldn't fit him very well either. Dumbledore thought the curse on the DADA position was bad, he was going to hate this curse. The Dark Lord made sure to do it in parseltongue so only he could remove it. 

"Weasley and Granger are going to be getting a taste of their own medicine." Severus' plan was to make Granger feel like it was to be hit every time she hit anyone else. Weasley was going to feel the pain his own words caused others. "Hopefully, they will learn." Severus was ladling the potion for Granger and Weasley into vials. 

The Dark Lord didn't respond. He knew Severus felt the same way he did. They wanted them to learn but each knew the chances were very slim they would. Granger had a better chance of learning since her parents weren't Dumbledore's stooges. Dobby popped into the room. He had Dumbledore's candy dishes. "They empty." Severus and the Dark Lord started to fill up the candy dishes. "Extra for when gone for mean Headmaster?"

"Yes, just keep an eye on the dishes and let us know when they start getting low. I expect he will toss out these when he tastes them." Severus pointed to the other cauldron. "We have the next batch."

"For Weasley and Granger. Dobby, add this to their food and drink every morning." Severus handed over the vials. 

Dobby looked excited. Well, more than he normally was as he bounced on his feet. Dobby had been eager to assist Severus and the Dark Lord. No one hurt the Little Bat as far as he was concerned. "Dobby will add it." 

"Let me know when you run low." Severus instructed.

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Neville, Draco, and Sebastian were sitting in Charms. Granger and Weasley sat behind them. Draco and Neville knew this wasn't going to go the way the duo wanted. Since it was Monday, the duo had been trying to get close to them all day. Charms was the last class and somehow the duo managed to beat the other Slytherins to the class. 

"Traitor." Weasley flinched a bit. He looked at Granger. 

"Not this again." Neville rolled his eyes. 

"They dunderheads." Sebastian quietly told them. He put his finger up to his lips as the bell sounded for the class to start.

Filius hid his smirk as he started the class. He knew he would be giving a detention to Weasley by the end of the class. 

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Sebastian was able to avoid the duo all week. Most due to Tina's efforts in popping the trio around Hogwarts. Sebastian, Draco, and Neville spent a lot of time with the older years in the common room if they weren't with Severus or the Dark Lord outside of classes. The Slytherin students closed rank around all of the first years. While the Gryffindors were keeping themselves away from Weasley and Granger. However, Severus wasn't so lucky. Friday afternoon he was summoned to the infirmary. He arrived to find Poppy arguing with Dumbledore about getting out of bed. Granger and Weasley were adding their own problems. Severus hadn't really seen Dumbledore all week. He wasn't sure if that was good or bad. Bad because he wanted to curse the man. Good because he knew if he did curse the man he would be in Azkaban. Severus knew the Dark Lord would prefer that Dumbledore was dead. However, now wasn't the time.

"Severus, thank Merlin." Poppy pointed to the trio. "Perhaps you can explain it to them since they don't believe my opinion." 

"What is the problem?" Severus knew he was going to regret asking.

Dumbledore started a long monologue about how he had been daily to see Poppy. Severus saw that Dumbledore was still bald. Dumbledore rambled on about his clothes and his precious lemon drops were all ruined. Dumbledore explained how he had tried to change clothes and that he even ordered new ones, nothing worked. Dumbledore had tried to regrow his hair but that didn't work, either. His lemon drops didn't taste right. Dumbledore used a variety of scans and nothing was revealed.

Severus wanted to put a muzzle on each of them as the duo joined Dumbledore in their ranting about what was happening to each of them. They had been quiet up to the point where Dumbledore mentioned the different scans he had run. Granger was complaining about her variety of pain. Weasley whined about his different ailments, most of the pain came in the form of headaches. Each getting louder to try and outdo the other two.

Poppy held up her hand. They stopped talking. "Here is the list of their different ailments. What I have tried to do in order to solve their issues." She handed Severus some parchments. The trio of idiots started talking at once. Poppy cast a Silencio on them. "That is part of the problem. They can't stop talking. They each try to be louder than the others."

Severus wasn't expecting that side effect. He wondered if it was part of the curse or his potions. "Albus complaints are about being bald, his clothes, and lemon drops?" Severus read down the list of scans that Poppy had done. He knew she was thorough but he wasn't expecting her to run even a residue scan. 

"Yes. I haven't found any potion residue in him. He claims his clothes itch. They also don't fit. He said his lemon drops taste funny. I tried one but they tasted fine. The same thing with his clothes, They felt fine to me. So I've been in contact with St. Mungos and they aren't sure what is wrong. They are researching." Poppy walked to stand in front of Granger. "Ms. Granger keeps feeling pain in her arms, shoulders, and her back. It's not continuous. She has no bruises and nothing is showing up on my scans." Poppy stood in Weasley. "I have no idea. He just says he feels pain and has a lot of headaches. He can't tell me where the pain is or even where his headaches hurt. I have nothing on the scans." 

"I can't think of any potion that covers all those symptoms." Severus loved how he didn't even lie. He was going to have to make some notes on the potion and curse for future reference. 

"I told them that but Albus was insistent that I speak to you. He believes it might have been something dark." Poppy knew how biased Dumbledore was. He never believed anything unless someone else backed them up unless they were Gryffindors.

"Just because he isn't sure what is causing the problem doesn't mean it's dark. Albus, you know that. There are plenty of things in magic that might be the issue but it's not all dark." Severus loathed how Dumbledore decided what aspect of magic was dark or not. If he couldn't explain it, it was dark. If he didn't like part of a ritual, it was dark. Dumbledore had never realized that using dark magic required a lot of training and skill. It wasn't for everyone. You had to have control over your emotions, which is why dark magic could be dangerous. Dark magic took years to masters and you never truly mastered it completely.

"I agree. If he was dark it would have a residue and it would have set of the Dark Arts' wards. Not to mention whatever is causing the problem isn't killing them or overall harmful. It's annoyance factors. I thought it might be pranks but I've never seen pranks that would also react with other pranks." Poppy had already spoken to Minerva and the Weasley Twins. The twins were impressed by the pranks but didn't do it.

"True. I can research the different ailments. All I can do right now is offer to make whatever potions you deem they require." Severus would make sure the potions wouldn't counter anything they had done to the trio.

"There really isn't anything I can offer them. I was going to release them with orders to keep away from each other but Albus wanted me to speak to you first. He was insistent that you would be able to solve the problem." Poppy had tried to tell Dumbledore that Severus wouldn't have the solution.

"Indeed. I will research but I can't guarantee an answer that covers all three of them." Severus would be researching but not for a solution. He had another idea and was going to be speaking to the Dark Lord before they went out on dinner.

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"Bas, remember don't go anywhere without Draco, Neville, and Tina." Severus reminded his son one last time before the Dark Lord was due to arrive for their night out. Sebastian, Draco, and Neville were going to remain in Severus' quarters, with Tina. 

"We won't. You bring us chocolate frogs?" Sebastian had Chaos on his lap. Draco and Neville were setting up a board game. 

"I might since you three have stayed out of trouble." Severus wasn't worried about the three of them being alone in his quarters with Tina. He knew that between the Dark Lord and his own wards no one would be able to enter without their knowledge. "If there is any problem, you call Dobby to come and get us. Tina, you remain with them." 

"I will stay with Little Bats." Tina took her duty seriously. She didn't trust Dumbledore, Granger, or Weasley. She knew the other house-elves and ghosts didn't either. 

The Dark Lord knocked on the door. Severus granted him entrance. "Pair, guess what?" Sebastian stood up with Chaos in his arms. The cats back legs were just hanging down. 

"What?" The Dark Lord glanced at Severus for a clue.

"We're going to stay here while you take my Bat out." Sebastian had walked to the Dark Lord and gave him a one-armed hug. Chaos was hanging from the other arm. The cat was still purring when Sebastian released the Dark Lord. Severus thought that Chaos was the best present he could have gotten his son. 

"I see that. It looks like you have some games to play too." The Dark Lord watched as Severus put more games down on the table. 

"Yes, Dray and Nev are going to sleep over too." Sebastian headed back to his spot. "See, we even got games." 

"We won't be long. I expect the three of you to behave." Severus issued his warning. He knew that the three boys would behave. Sebastian, Draco, and Neville were actually good kids. He believed it was because Draco and Neville took their friendship seriously and wanted to protect Sebastian. Sebastian also took the fact that he had two best friends very seriously. None of them had ever had friends before.

"We will be back before you're bedtime. We are just having dinner." The Dark Lord wanted to have more time with Severus but knew as long as they were at Hogwarts, Severus wasn't going to leave Sebastian for long without their protection. He already added some parseltongue wards and other protective spells to Severus' quarters. 

Severus and the Dark Lord had skipped dinner in the Great Hall so that they could have their date night. Dumbledore had been staying in his quarters to avoid anyone seeing him in his present shape. Sebastian put Chaos down, ran to Severus, gave him a hug. "Have fun, we will. Tina watch us." 

"We will." Severus picked up Sebastian, giving him a hug while walking him back to sit on the couch.


	13. Chapter 13

Severus and the Dark Lord didn't speak as they headed into Hogsmeade. Severus resisted the urge to look over his shoulder to glance at Hogwarts. Once in Hogsmeade, Severus stopped, as did the Dark Lord.

"It's just dinner, Severus. Tina is with them." The Dark Lord escorted Severus to The Three Broomsticks. He made arrangements with Madam Rosmerta to have dinner ready for them. 

"I am aware." Severus let himself be guided into The Three Broomsticks. 

"Your table is ready." Madam Rosmerta led them toward the back of the pub. The table had a white linen tablecloth over it. The plates had the Peverell family crest in the center. The glassware had the crest etched into it. 

"You arranged all of this?" Severus looked at the table. It was exactly set up like the first date they had at Peverell Castle. Severus looked closely at the hem of the tablecloth and saw the ivy from the Peverell crest along the edges. "Same meal?" It was the same tablecloth as Severus saw the same loose thread that was by his seat during their first meal at the castle. 

"Yes." Suddenly in front of them appeared their first meal. It was Severus' favorite. Truffle Oil Roast Salmon and Mushrooms. The Dark Lord filled their glasses with Gamay Beaujolais. "Severus, he will be fine."

"What? Yes, I know. I'm -" Severus wasn't sure why he was so worried. It wasn't like Tina would abandon Sebastian. The house-elf would die before letting anyone hurt Sebastian. Sebastian was also with Draco and Neville, both boys knew how to use the floo, how to get help, knew where they could go for safety. Severus had already made sure that Lucius and Narcissa would be home. Narcissa had smiled at him and replied they would remain near the floo.

"I know. I added extra protection to your quarters." The Dark Lord put the bottle of wine down. "It's also why I arranged to have everything ready ahead of time." This was going to be the fastest first date ever which is what he planned.

"Dumbledore doesn't know we left?" Severus didn't trust Dumbledore.

"He is still visiting Poppy. I also arranged for him to remain there for the night." The Dark Lord gave Dumbledore the worst case of the flu by slipping the potion into Dumbledore's food at breakfast and lunch. 

"The moronic duo?"

"Detention with Flitch right after dinner." The Dark Lord had tried to make sure everything was handled but he also felt the desire to return to Hogwarts. 

Neither spoke. They were just moving their food around on their plates. The Dark Lord stood up. Severus looked up from his plate. "Let's go check on the Little Bat."

Severus got up. "Thank you." It was possibly the fastest walk back to Hogwarts. 

__________________________________________________________________

Severus and the Dark Lord could hear the boys laughing, as well as their own voices, as they approached Severus' quarters. "I put it up so that no one would know we were gone. The parselwards would kill anyone who tried to remove them." Severus looked at the Dark Lord. "I know, it's overkill." 

"I thought I was being overprotective with the wards I added." Severus removed the wards he put up. Wards that if anyone else tried to remove they would feel like their blood was turning into acid.

They entered Severus' quarters to find Chaos sleeping while Draco, Neville, and Sebastian were putting a puzzle together on the floor. There were some glasses of water on the table. Sebastian jumped up. "Look, Bat, we making a picture that matches the box." Sebastian hugged him. "Frogs?"

"I see. Yes, for being so good you got each earned a chocolate frog." Severus quickly cast a summoning spell for the frogs. He gave them each one but Sebastian didn't let go of him. He picked him up. 

"Tina got the puzzle for us." Draco knew they weren't in trouble. 

"That is fine. She knew where the toys were." Severus stepped over the puzzle sat down on the floor with Sebastian in his lap. The Dark Lord sat down opposite Severus. "We can get this done before bedtime." 

________________________________________________________________________

Severus heard his bedroom door open. "Bat?" 

Severus lifted the covers. "Draco snoring?"

"He was but Nev hit him over the head with his pillow." Sebastian curled around Severus. "When you and pair getting married?"

"How about you worry about your school work? While I work on the relationship status with the Dark Lord." Severus felt the stuff bat on his chest.

"You worry about my school work, too." Sebastian yawned. "We family, family stays together." 

"That is true of both statements. The Dark Lord isn't going anywhere." Severus knew that eventually, the Dark Lord would have them as a family. So much of his past feeling were resurfacing. Feeling that he thought were dead because of what happened on 31st of October. "You don't worry about us being together. It will happen when it happens." 

"It better if it happens soon." 

Severus didn't comment.


	14. Chapter 14

Severus and the Dark Lord were sitting in another boring staff meeting. It was almost the end of the year and everyone was working on the end of year exams and getting students ready to take their OWLs and NEWTs. They had almost weekly date nights. They weren't always in Hogsmeade but they tried to spend some time alone each week. Right now, however, they were a bit worried about what Dumbledore had planned for the end of the year.

The third floor was warded by Dumbledore but they knew it wouldn't stop Dumbledore and whatever plan he had. They had heard from Neville that Weasley and Granger had been telling him about some stone that Severus was trying to steal. Neville wasn't sure what stone they were talking about but he told the duo he wasn't interested in it.

Draco mentioned that he had heard Weasley and Granger speaking about Nicholas Flamel in the library. Granger had been researching what might be hidden on the third floor. Weasley kept insisting to Granger that Severus was after whatever it was. Draco heard that whatever was hidden was now being protected by Dumbledore. Sabastian ignored them. Whenever they tried to talk to Sebastian in the library, he would hold his finger up to his mouth and say "shh." If they kept talking to him, he would go and get Miss Prince.

"The examiners will be here next week to start their testing for the OWLs and NEWTs. I have made arrangements for them to stay in the rooms on the fourth floor." Dumbledore's voice droned on.

Severus glanced at the Dark Lord. Dumbledore usually had the examiners stayed on the third floor since the floor wasn't really used. The wards should prevent anyone from entering the room where Fluffy used to be. Severus had a sinking feeling the wards were going to disappear.

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Draco and Neville almost ran to Severus' quarters. Sebastian was studying with the Dark Lord as part of his weekly tutoring. They went to the library to do some reviewing for their upcoming yearly exams. Draco gave the override password and saw Severus sitting at his desk. "Uncle Severus, Granger and Weasley believe that since Dumbledore is gone you are going to go after that stone. They tried to drag Nev to the third floor."

"Draco arrived at Miss Pince's desk as they tried to pull me with them." Neville explained. "They are sure you are going for some stone. When they saw Draco coming toward us they warned me not to tell him. They believe that Draco would warn you." Neville wasn't sure why they wanted him to come but his grandmother warned him to stay away from Weasley and Granger.

"Stay here. Tina." Severus waited for the elf appeared. "I need to go to the Dark Lord and Bas." Tina would take Sebastian back to his quarters while the Dark Lord and he handled the two dunderheads.

Severus saw Sabastian and the Dark Lord were working on the spells that Sabastian had been assigned earlier in the week for review for the end of the year exams. "Bas, go with Tina back to my quarters. Draco and Neville are there waiting for you."

"Am I bad?" Sebastian looked confused. He could see the worry on Severus' face. "I did my assignments."

"No, you haven't done anything bad. I need the Dark Lord to help me with something. We need to prevent an issue on the third floor." Severus knew the Dark Lord would understand. He knew they should have added their own wards but Dumbledore would have acted like a three-year-old if he discovered their interference.

"Bas, go. Everything will be fine." The Dark Lord reassured Sebastian. "We will be along shortly."

"Come little one. I will make you hot chocolate." Tina held out her hand. Sebastian grinned as they popped away.

"What happened?" The Dark Lord spelled his classroom back to normal. The training dummy went back into its corner as the desk and chairs returned to their normal positions.

"Granger and Weasley believe I'm after the Stone and heading to the third floor. They tried to get Neville to join them."

"Dumbledore and his stupid ideas. Let's save the idiots."

The Dark Lord and Severus headed to the third floor and weren't surprised to find the wards removed from the door. They looked around the room. The pillar that Fluffy was attached to was broken but the others around the room were intact. They entered the room and saw the trap door was up. They looked down and saw Granger and Weasley stuck in the Devil's Snare. "Don't move. We will get you up."

"Dunderheads." Severus muttered as they conjured two long ropes. They tied it off against one of the pillars in the room. Severus dropped the two drops ropes down to Granger and Weasley who were quietly arguing. "Wrap the ropes around your waists and we will pull you up."

The Dark Lord heard a spell and the two lions disappeared. "Idiots. They are going to try and do the maze."

"Tina." Severus summoned the elf.

"Master Professor?"

"Get Minerva McGonagall." Tina popped away. "They won't believe we aren't out to hurt them. Minerva will have to talk some sense into the dunderheads." They pulled up the ropes as they waited.

Minerva was a bit confused when she appeared with Tina in the room. "What is going on? She wouldn't give me an answer."

"Weasley and Granger are down below the Devil's Snare. We tried to pull them up, as you can see. They didn't believe we would rescue them." Severus explained. Tina popped away. She was going to stay with Sebastian, Draco, and Neville.

"There weren't any wards on the room either." The Dark Lord added.

"I'm going to kill him. Let's go and get my wayward lion cubs." Minerva looked down at the Devil's Snare. "They learned about this during the first term." She was not happy with seeing what was set up to protect the stone.

"I don't want to burn the plant. The two dunderheads already damaged it a bit." Severus knew Pomona wouldn't want her plant destroyed. The plant was very old. He also didn't want to have to explain to his son he killed one of the plants that his son loved to pet. He also didn't want to disappoint his son or Neville. 

"Is there a way down to that area of the castle without going through the trap door?" The Dark Lord knew there had to be a way to get around this as he didn't believe Dumbledore would want to go through the Devil's Snare or the rest of the course each time he checked on the Stone.

"Yes. There is a door hidden in a storage alcove. It will take us to where he set up my chessboard." Minerva sighed as Severus closed the trap door. They exited the room, reset the wards and headed to the second floor. Minerva glared at the lack of wards on the door in the storage alcove. "That man. He knows there are students who come into this room." She wasn't going to mention why. On Friday and Saturday nights this was a very popular spot. The staff usually caught three couples each night.

They entered the room and found Granger and Weasley standing on the chessboard. Minerva pulled out her wand. "Cease" ending the chess game. She walked to the chessboard. She knelt down. She waved her wand in a figure eight motion. "Release and reset." The pieces went back to their beginning positions after the dumped Weasley onto the board.

"Get off of there." Severus ordered. The two lions got off of the chessboard. "You ignored my instructions about using the rope to get you out of Devil's Snare. You damaged the plant when you disobeyed my orders."

"But you were there to steal..." Weasley stopped talking as Granger kicked him in the leg.

"Yes. I planned on stealing whatever you believe is hidden here by bringing Professor Quirrell and McGonagall along." Severus wasn't impressed. He wondered how the boy managed to speak and walk at the same time without killing himself. He also wondered why the allowed the curse to end. Perhaps if it lasted longer the two idiots might have learned a lesson.

"The pair of you were warned by me that the Stone wasn't in danger." Minerva wasn't happy. "I told you earlier today that it was protected." She looked at the opened door. She could see the frozen keys lying on the floor. She knew that the keys weren't meant to be that easy to get through.

"They went to you and still did this?" The Dark Lord was thankful they got to them before they could get hurt. He noticed the frozen keys and knew that Severus did too. There was no way the two of them should have gotten through the keys and door that fast. The stage had to be set much lower than it should have been. It was designed for first years to get through the course.

"Yes. The Headmaster is attending a meeting." Minerva pointed to the door they entered. "Go." Once they left the room, sealing the door. Minerva added wards to the door. The group headed to the Headmaster's office. As they were walking to the main staircase, they saw Dumbledore heading up the stairs. The man was a bit surprised to see them waiting for him. "Headmaster, you are just in time."

"Minerva?"

"We discovered Mr. Weasley and Miss Granger in the area they were forbidden to be in."

"We thought Professor Snape was going to steal the Philosopher's Stone." Granger defended them. She looked at Dumbledore. She looked a bit guilty for accusing her professor but she thought the stone was in grave danger.

"Yeah, who else would be after it?" Weasley backed up his friend. He believed that because Severus was mean to them that he had to be the thief.

"I see. I'm sure it's a slight misunderstanding. Let's discuss this up in my office." Dumbledore led the way to his office.

Severus and the Dark Lord knew the two were not going to get into trouble for their actions. Severus was willing to be Dumbledore would find a way to give them points.

_______________________________________________________

"Lemon drops?" Dumbledore asked as he sat down in his chair. Weasley took one while everyone else declined. Severus moved to stand in his usual corner by the bookcase. Granger and Weasley took the two chairs in front of Dumbledore's desk. Minerva summoned two chairs for her and the Dark Lord. "Now, Hermione why don't you explain what happened tonight?" Dumbledore ran his hands down his beard. Severus wondered if the man did it to get the sugar off of his fingers. The man was still bald and had taken to wearing hats that covered his whole head.

"Yes, sir. We knew you were gone and we knew the Stone was in danger. We went to Professor McGonagall but she didn't believe us." Granger paused as she looked at the disapproving frown on Minerva's face. "We knew that the Stone was originally at Gringotts. Hagrid got it the same day that Gringotts was broken into. Someone just had to be after the stone. Hagrid mentioned getting it for you."

"Hagrid mentioned Nicholas Flamel and on your Chocolate Frog card is how you worked with Nicholas Flamel and he crafted the Philosopher's Stone." Weasley added. "Potter is always showing his cards to Longbottom and Malfoy. We heard him reading it to them."

Severus could hear the bitterness in Weasley's voice that he wasn't friends with his son. He didn't bother to even try to correct the name. He knew it was a worthless endeavor as Dumbledore still called his son Harry Potter. He would have to find a way to give the pair a detention for trying to drag Sebastian and Neville into this adventure.

"Since it's almost the end of the year we figured that someone had to be after it. The troll was released for a reason." Granger explained their reasoning. "We put it together and since you were gone tonight we figured that Professor Snape must be going after the stone tonight. We had seen him up by the third floor numerous times."

"I was patrolling and checking the wards." Severus knew that Dumbledore used Hagrid to get the information out. Everyone knew that Hagrid couldn't keep a secret. He started making a list of potions to use on Dumbledore. He knew the man wanted either his son or Neville to go with the idiotic duo to get the stone. If Dumbledore thought he experienced discomfort before, Severus was going to make him wish for the bad lemon drops.

"Professor Snape would never steal." Dumbledore held up his hand as Minerva and the Dark Lord were about to add their own defense of Severus. "Since no one was hurt…"

"You mean besides the poor Devil's Snare." Severus added. "Professor Stout isn't going to be happy."

"Oh dear, she won't. Well, Hermione and Ron, you will serve your detention with Professor Stout. I will inform her. I will remove ten points from Gryffindor." Dumbledore gave them his grandfather smile. "I will speak to her about the plant, too."

"That is all?" The Dark Lord was a bit surprised.

"Two nights of detention is enough. They weren't harming anyone. A little adventure is all." Dumbledore reasoned.

Severus and the Dark Lord knew they wouldn't be able to talk Dumbledore into a harsher punishment just as they knew Minerva would accept whatever Dumbledore decided. "No one was hurt because we stopped them. They were on my chessboard and from their positions at least one of them would have been hurt in order to continue."

Severus was a bit surprised. He didn't think Minerva would have supported their viewpoint. "This was after they ignored our attempt to get them before they hurt the Devil's Snare."

"I believe the two nights are plenty. They have learned their lessons." Dumbledore dismissed what Severus and Minerva were saying. "It's almost curfew, why don't you head to your dorm, Hermione, and Ron."

"Yes, sir." The two lions rose and headed out of the office.

Once they were gone, Dumbledore gave his staff a smile. "The stone is safe and that is all that matters."

Severus and the Dark Lord didn't respond. Minerva huffed.

________________________________________________________________

The Dark Lord waited until the three boys left Severus' quarters. They were going to be sleeping in their dorm room. "I think we need to get the stone he used."

"I agree. I think he has plans for it, even if the two idiots didn't make it to stone." Severus knew the Dark Lord was right. He was willing to be that Dumbledore was going to claim the stone was destroyed. The Mirror had already been reported stolen, even though Severus and the Dark Lord had seen Dumbledore moving it from the fourth floor. The Dark Lord moved it and put it under some parsletongue wards

"We can't do it tonight. He is going to want to check on the stone." The Dark Lord smirked. "We need to review the memory of Minerva creating the wards and the reset on the chessboard. We go through the storage door."

"I agree. I'm sure Mr. Flamel would like his stone returned." Severus wasn't sure who owned the Mirror of Erised. He knew it wasn't Dumbledore's and didn't belong to Hogwarts. "We need to find out who owns the Mirror of Erised."

"I already know. It's part of the Peverell family treasures. He had to have taken it out before you took custody of Sebastian. I will get it out of here after the students are gone."

"I only checked the Potter list." Severus had been delayed looking into the other vaults that belonged to his son. "I had the goblins send me the statements. I didn't see anything unauthorized being removed."

"We can check over the summer on all of the different titles or even vaults left to him." The Dark Lord made it part of his to-do list. "Just a few more weeks and we get a break from Dumbledore."

_________________________________________________________

Severus and the Dark Lord stood in front of a fake Mirror of Erised. "This is pathetic. I would have expected him to add protection to it after we stopped the duo from doing this."

"I thought he would have too. He removed my potion area. It was to be before the entrance to this last room. There aren't even any wards around any of the rooms." Severus had tested to see if there was anything protecting the mirror. He had felt the stone in his pocket. "There isn't anything protecting the mirror."

The Dark Lord smirked. "I say we move it and put it under a Fidelius Charms that I can do in parsel. He will be missing two mirrors."

"Dumbledore is going to have a lot of explaining to do." Severus and the Dark Lord had already provided Lucius and Lady Longbottom with their memories of the night the Idiotic Duo tried to do the course. They were going to send the stone back to the Flamels with a copy of the memories.

________________________________________________________________________________

Sebastian sat down next to Severus on the couch. Severus had been reading. The students were leaving in a week for the summer holiday. They would be leaving a week after that. Severus had already created the schedule for cleaning up his classroom and the potion labs.

"Bat?" Sebastian had Chaos in his lap, petting him, for comfort.

"Yes?" Severus could hear the worry in Sebastian's voice. The duo hadn't been bothering anyone but that didn't mean that he trusted them.

"When do I go back to Auntie's?"

"You aren't going back there, ever. You live with me, remember?" Severus hadn't expected that question. He was a bit surprised as he thought Sebastian knew he wasn't going anyplace. The muggles were released after Dumbledore got them off in Wizengamot. According to Dumbledore, the muggles couldn't see Azkaban and therefore couldn't serve time there. Dumbledore used the Statute of Secrecy to prevent them from being charged by the muggles authorities. It didn't mean that the Dark Lord and he weren't going to find a way to punish them. Lucius had tried to prevent it. However, Dumbledore had his supporters all primed and ready for his motion.

"Not just when in school, Bat?" Sebastian looked up at Severus' face. His face was full of hope.

"No, it's not just during the school year but all the time. You are my son, you won't be going anywhere without me. We will be staying at my home and visiting Draco at the Manor. The Dark Lord will visit us."

"Weasel told me I was going to be staying with him for two weeks after I went to my Auntie's. I don't want to go to either place. I don't want to visit Weasel, he is mean to me." Sebastian leaned a bit into Severus.

"You won't be, I promise. Remember we are a family. A family we selected to create and no one is going to separate us." Severus wanted to kill Dumbledore. He knew it was Dumbledore who had to tell Molly Weasley that information and Molly passed it to her son. "Why do you think I would allow you to return there?"

"Weasel and Mouthy said that you work for the Headmaster and had to obey him. We are to obey him, too. They kept telling me I need to obey the Headmaster." Sebastian didn't lift his head. "They keep telling me things about the Headmaster when they sit behind me in class."

"The Headmaster has no say in where you are going for your summer holiday. He can't do anything about you coming home with me. You're my son. Remember what I said about the two lions?"

"Yes. They are dunderheads and I shouldn't listen to them."

"Exactly. They can say whatever they want. They have the right to say what they want but it doesn't make it true. Why don't you go and get ready for bed? You have a tutoring session with Professor Flitwick tomorrow. He is going to give you some extra work for over the summer." The staff agreed to give Sebastian extra work to help him keep up with the rest of his year mates. Some of it would enable Sebastian to keep the skills he already learned intact but also would help establish some building blockers for later.

"Draco and Neville can visit, right? When we go home." Sebastian stood up, Chaos hanging from his arms. The cat didn't seem to mind as long as he was secure.

"Yes. They will be visiting as you will visit them." Severus wasn't going to allow Sebastian to spend the night unless he was there. He didn't think that Sebastian was ready for that. He also didn't want Sebastian to go looking for him during the night and him not being present if his son spent the night at another's home.

"Good. Pair comes with us?"

"Yes, you know he will join us." Severus knew the Dark Lord was going to set up a permanent glamour for when he was at Hogwarts but during the summer holiday he would be himself. Lucius and Narcissa had already gathered the required ingredients for the ritual that would be used to return the Dark Lord to his original body.

"Chaos is coming too?"

"Yes. Everyone and everything is coming with us. I wouldn't leave Chaos behind." Severus reassured Sebastian. He was preparing himself for the upcoming fight he knew Dumbledore was going to give him. He bet Dumbledore was going to try those Blood Wards for protection.

__________________________________________________

"Albus, you wanted to see me?" Severus had been busy making sure all his snakes had everything packed for tomorrow. He didn't want his snakes to wait until the last minute to get their belongings together. The train wouldn't wait for anyone.

"Yes, Severus, please take a seat." Dumbledore smiled at Severus. "I am sure you are aware of why I had Harry remain with his relatives."

"Sebastian." Severus corrected. "His name is Sebastian Snape." He was going to kill the old man. The only reason why he wasn't cursing the man was that the portraits would be witnesses. He also didn't want to be sent to Azkaban. 

Dumbledore ignored what Severus. "Harry needs to return to his relatives' house. It's for his protection as well as his relatives'."

"No. Sebastian is not returning to that house, ever. You know what they did to him. He is my son. You also know I did a blood adoption on him, therefore, he is of my blood."

"Severus, you know Voldemort will return. We must do what we can to protect Harry and his family."

Severus almost growled. "No, my son isn't going to that house ever. You have no say in where he goes. You are not his magical guardian. I'm his father, he will come home with me."

"Severus, you are going to endanger his family."

"No, you endangered them by allowing them to escape their punishment. My son is going to remain with me. That is the end of the discussion, Albus."

"Severus, you know..."

"Don't even say the name." Severus warned. While the name no longer hurt he wasn't going to tell Dumbledore that information.

"He will return. We must protect Harry to the very best of our abilities." Dumbledore's eyes started twinkling.

"No, and you better tell Mr. Weasley that my son isn't going to visit him or remain at the Burrow for any time period." Severus rose from his chair. "Leave my son out of your plots. I already warned you about bringing my son into your plans."

_________________________________________________________

"Bat, I don't want to ride the train." Sebastian had his stuffed bat in his hand. He had climbed into Severus bed late last night and the alarm clock had woken them up. Chaos was sleeping at Severus' feet.

"Why?" Severus knew that Sebastian had never ridden the train so he wasn't sure why Sebastian was objecting to riding it. He was still lying on his back, Sebastian was curled into his side.

"All the students will be on the train. It will be loud, crowded, and no place to run from the mean Weasel and Mouthy." Sebastian looked at him. "You and Pair won't be there either."

Severus gave Sebastian a kiss on the tip of his nose. "That is true and it's a good thing I already made arrangements for you not to take the train. You will get to spend some time with Madam Pomfrey as we attend the staff meeting. After that, the Dark Lord is going to take us out to lunch."

"We get some Frogs?"

"Yes, you have been very good I believe we can arrange that. Now, let's get up." Severus threw back the blankets. "Your fresh clothes are ready for you in the bathroom, like normal."

___________________________________________________________

The Dark Lord was about to fall asleep as he listened to Dumbledore drone on about nothing. He knew he wasn't the only one. Severus was sitting next to him and giving Dumbledore his death glare, which everyone saw. Dumbledore hadn't directed anything at Severus as if sensing the man would curse him. The Dark Lord felt Severus would do more than curse the man. 

Sebastian was on the floor. He was coloring in his coloring book over in the corner. Severus hadn't let Sebastian out of his sight since Dumbledore had wanted to have Sebastian go to the Dursleys. Sebastian didn't want to be away from Severus. This was the result of Dumbledore speaking to Sebastian about how much his muggle relatives missed him and how he needed to return. Dumbledore hadn't realized Tina had left to get Severus. Dumbledore was a bit surprised to have Severus appear in front of him. The only reason it remained civil was because Sebastian was present. The Dark Lord figured that once they were out of Hogwarts both of his favorite humans would be back to normal.

The staff was ready to leave Hogwarts for their summer holiday. All the classrooms were cleaned, the exams were graded, and the dorms were cleaned and ready to be prep for the return of the students in six weeks. Poppy even had the beds cleaned and a fully stocked medicine cabinet for emergencies over the summer. Severus had even brewed some potions that had a longer shelf life for her to have a steady supply of them.

Dumbledore had brought the Weasley family to Hogwarts three weeks ago. Dumbledore was using it as a way to try and get Sebastian to play with Ron and Ginny Weasley. Ron and Ginny weren't in the room as Molly had told them it was for adults. She had even tried to get Sebastian from entering the room for the meeting.

"Albus, we would like to go home. There isn't anything left to discuss." Minerva put her teacup down. "We have even submitted our next year's lesson plans." Minerva ignored the plate of snacks that Molly Weasley set on the table. "I want to see my grandchildren sometime this summer."

Everyone was very good at ignoring Molly Weasley's presence. The woman had been driving them all slowly crazy with her always trying to get her two youngest to be friends with Sebastian. Molly was making the extra time even worse with all her comments about what Sebastian should do and how he should act. She had even tried to get her two kids into the tutoring lessons that Sebastian had. Everyone was at the end of the tether and wanted to leave. Molly presence was making it worse for everyone. The woman believed she was right about her children and how to handle Sebastian. She even insisted that everyone call Sebastian, Harry.

"Why doesn't Harry join my Ronnie and Ginny out on the Quidditch field? I'm sure he doesn't want to continue listening to the adults discuss Hogwarts." Molly put another biscuit on Dumbledore's plate.

"No." Severus stated. "My son's name is Sebastian, use that name." Severus already added a few potions to Molly's tea and he knew Tina added things to her food, as well as adding things to Dumbledore's food and tea. Molly had stopped drinking tea to keep from going to the bathroom every ten minutes.

"I'm sure it will be fine. Harry and my children will get along just fine." Molly bent down and closed the coloring book that Sebastian was coloring in.

Sebastian frowned. He didn't like the woman but didn't say anything to her as he stood up and walked to Severus. "Bat, you said no more flying." He still had one of his crayons in his hand. "She took my book." He pointed to Molly. "Isn't she too old to be taking things that don't belong to her?" He not so quietly whispered. "She not bright keeps calling me Harry."

Severus had to agree with his son, Molly wasn't very bright. Many of the staff covered their laughter as Molly and Dumbledore just looked at Sebastian. "Don't worry you don't have to go flying. You will get your book back." Severus lifted Sebastian and settled him on his lap. "Are we done?" He felt the Dark Lord squeeze his hand. Severus was close to losing his temper with Molly Weasley. She had been bossing her son around since she arrived with her kids.

"Yes." Minerva held up her hand when Dumbledore went to continue. "No more Albus. You have kept us longer than necessary for no reason. All of us want to go home and see our families. You have guests here that you need to take care of their needs. It's not up to Sebastian to entertain your guests' children."

Severus stood up, shifting Sebastian so that he settled on his right hip. The Dark Lord gathered Sebastian's coloring book and the rest of Sebastian's crayons. "I'm heading to home tonight. I'll see everyone in six weeks." The Dark Lord and the rest of the staff added their agreement. No one wanted to remain at Hogwarts any longer. They all had holiday plans and wanted to actually have time to enjoy them. They also didn't want to listen to Molly Weasley dictate their lives.

"Bat, we go home? We get to see Uncle Lucy and Aunt Cissy?" Sebastian asked once they were out of the staff room.

"Yes. We are all packed and we are going to apparate home." Severus saw the Dark Lord waited until everyone was out of the staff room except for Molly and Dumbledore. He wondered what the man was doing as he saw him cast a few spells. He arched a brow as the Dark Lord finally joined them.

"Simple eavesdropping charm with a prank on each of them. I don't trust them. They had to keep us here for a reason. I hope the pranks won't be blamed on the twins." The Dark Lord wasn't a happy man. He had missed a few dates with Severus because of Dumbledore and Molly Weasley. They also had to delay the ritual to get his body back because they missed the full moon.

"Let's get out of here." Severus didn't want to be delayed any longer. He was liable to kill Molly or Dumbledore if they stayed any longer. "I can't take any more dunderheads."


	15. Chapter 15

The Dark Lord handed the books to Severus. “The ritual is in the top book. The potion is at the bottom. It won’t take much time or energy to do the ritual. We just need a book I left with Lucius.” They had been at home for a few days and the full moon was approaching.

“I told Lucius that we will be there tomorrow.” Severus and the Dark Lord had apparated to Prince Manor. They didn’t want to have Dumbledore showing up at Snape Manor. Severus knew Dumbledore had no idea he inherited Prince Manor and didn’t know its location. His grandfather had never been a friend of Dumbledore.

They also set up a recording quill and parchment for the Dark Lord’s eavesdropping spell to record to. They weren't expecting much but they did want to be aware of anything regarding Sebastian. Molly Weasley was very vocal and they did expect her to say something interesting. They hadn’t read anything interesting beyond the fact that Molly Weasley wasn’t a happy camper.

*******flashback*******(Remember Severus is reading the parchment, so no emotions etc.)

“Severus, you are going to find this interesting.” The Dark Lord entered the library. They had been at Prince Manor for a few days. It was spent getting Sebastian used to the house, as well as putting things away, and the elves gushing over Sebastian. Sebastian put up with the elves attention only because Tina had already warned the elves about touching him and not staring at him. Sebastian had quickly organized his room and had a routine.

“Oh?” Severus lowered the book he was reading. Sebastian was in bed and he was relaxing. Severus was actually enjoying being a father. He loved having Sebastian curl up on his lap. He loved being needed and having someone love him in a pure way that only a child could have.

“Yes, that spell revealed something I think Dumbledore was hoping to keep hidden.” The Dark Lord showed Severus the parchment. Severus started to read the parchment.

“What am I going to do, Albus? I have no place to live and I can’t be near my children.”

“Molly, I’m sure we can get this worked out. Arthur is just upset.”

“Upset. He pulled out the marriage contract. He found out about the money that was going into my account. He got a renewal notice on the lease with a letter demanding back payment for the rent. I put the money into my vault each month. I even put in any extra cash so he kept the extra to pay the increase in rent.”

“Well, can’t you use some of the money from Ron and Ginny’s vaults to find a place to live? Hire a barrister and get custody of the children.”

“No, he emptied all the vaults. He paid everything back. In my marriage contract, we can’t get divorced until the youngest is of age. However, he can remove me from their lives and our home. He has decided to enforce that aspect of the marriage contract. Ron and Ginny returned to the Burrow this morning.”

“I see. I can’t hire you here at Hogwarts, Molly. The only way I could hire you as if I hired you in an area that you can’t be with the children. I got the notice from the Board that I was to make sure you weren’t allowed near your children.”

“Albus, what am I going to do? How did he find out? How am I going to see my children? I can’t lose them.”

“The goblins did an accounting after the robbery last year. They did all the vaults. I have no control over the Potter vaults so I can’t do anything about the money situation.”

“I need to find a place to live and now a job.”

“I will see if my brother can hire you or perhaps Tom.”

“I can’t do that. People will see me and what will they say?”

“Just say you are doing it to help out the family. I can arrange for you to stay in one of my homes. It will need to be cleaned but it is in great shape.”

“What about Harry? What are you going to do about that boy? Did you see his lack of manners? Severus wasn’t much better. Honestly, Albus what is going to come of Harry if he remains with Severus?”

“Molly, there isn’t much I can do. Severus has proved himself to be a very good parent. Poppy, Minerva, even Augusta support Severus being Harry’s father.”

“Throw him back into Azkaban. It’s what he deserves. He is a Death Eater.”

“He hasn’t done anything against the law. I also need him to return to his spying when Voldemort returns.”

“So toss him in there until you need him. I can take care of Harry.”

“Molly, it won’t work. There is nothing I can charge Severus with.”

“What about child endangerment or abuse? He is a Death Eater. You know he must be doing something to Harry.”

“Molly, it won’t work.”

“Fine. If you won’t do something, I will.”

“Molly, no you won’t. While I’m not happy about the situation, Harry is here, Severus is my spy. Therefore, I have control over Harry. When the time is right, I will make sure Severus trains Harry correctly. Harry will face Voldemort.”

“What about my Ginny? You said they would be married.”

Severus looked up from the parchment. “Married?” He felt sick. He didn’t see a marriage contract when he toured the Potter vaults. He didn’t see one listed.

“I already have Lucius checking for any marriage contracts in the Ministry.” The Dark Lord wasn’t thrilled when he read it. He had floo called Lucius as soon as finished reading the parchment so he could tell Severus he was already on top of the situation. There was no way Sebastian was going to marry that girl. 

“I will kill him.” Severus buried his anger and continued reading.

“When the time is right, it will happen. I will need to deal with Severus but it will happen. It’s clear that Harry will never be able to handle life as an adult. So we can bide our time.”

“Frankly, I’m surprised he is even able to attend Hogwarts. Perhaps we could go for him being behind and need to be home-school. Severus won’t have time for that and I can do it.”

“If we tried that I fear that Severus would quit and take Harry with him. He has that right.”

“He would, the lousy Death Eater. Why you didn’t know about his situation is beyond my understanding.”

“Arabella didn’t see Harry except for when he was allowed outside.”

“Well, what are you going to do about this coming year? Harry won’t be friends with my Ronny. Ginny might be able to get close to him but she is still so shy.”

“I have an idea but I’m not sure if it will work. Quirinus is returning.”

“What? How? I thought the curse would have gotten rid of him? Are you sure he isn’t a Death Eater?”

“He is returning and no he isn’t a Death Eater. I checked. I am not sure why he is returning. Usually after one year with me reminding them about the curse is enough to make them leave.”

“What is your idea?”

“I have a book I will make sure finds its way into Harry’s hands. It will be blank and when he writes in it and I will respond back. I can tell him information and guide him the way I want him to go.”

“Do you think it will work?”

“Yes, it should. According to Minerva and Filius, he is an avid reader. He follows books exactly.”

You tell him about You-Know-Who and start to hint at Severus’ involvement with him. Severus is the reason his parents are dead. You will be able to get him away by the end of the first term.”

“I will actually spread it out for the year. I don’t want to give Severus any idea of what is going on. If we wait for a year Harry will be thoroughly under my control and won’t want to go with Severus.”

“How will you get the book to Harry?”

“It will be simple. I will just have a house elf add it into the books in Harry’s room in the Slytherin dorm.”

Severus looked up from the parchment. “We can use this.”

“I was thinking the same thing. We write in the book. Let him think its Sebastian.”

“If it’s the type of book I’m thinking of, we will have to keep details of everything he writes.” The Dark Lord wasn’t going to endanger Sebastian or Severus. “We can create a duplicate book that will record everything that is written in the original book without the previous entries being erased.”

“Have Tina watch the books in the dorms, in Sebastian’s room, and even his satchel.” Severus went back to reading the parchment.

“Perhaps get him to be friends with Ginny and Ron toward the end of the year. No one will think it strange if I take him home.”

“I would rather he return to the Dursleys. They can teach him to obey.”

Severus’ nostrils flared as he read that. He slammed down his anger, knowing it wouldn’t happen. Dumbledore was still going to pay for saying it. He wanted to find a way to kill the old fool but knew he couldn't.

“Good. I better go. I need to meet Arthur in order to get some of my belongings out of the house. I will return here.”

“I will send an elf to start cleaning up my house when you return they can take you to the house.”

“That was interesting.” Severus wanted to throw the parchment in the fireplace. He wanted to go and curse Molly and Dumbledore. He wanted them to find true misery with each other.

“Yes it was. We can prepare Sebastian for everything.” The Dark Lord was thankful he was returning to Hogwarts. He could protect Severus and Sebastian. He wasn't going to give Dumbledore any opportunity to hurt his family.

____________________________________________________

“Don’t you want a party?” Severus asked Sebastian.

“No, no, too loud, too many people.” Sebastian was playing with Chaos.

“How about if have just a cake? We can have a few of your friends over and they can spend the night.” Severus was amazed at the progress his son was making now that he wasn't at Hogwarts and could escape when things go to rough for him.

“How that different than a regular day?” Sebastian looked up at Severus. “We always have some type of cake and my friends come and sleep here a lot.”

“True. You also get presents and play some party games.”

“Oh, like Dudley got to play, Bat?”

Dudley was the only person Sebastian could really relate to when it came to yearly events in a child's life. “Yes, exactly. We can even pick out the games ahead of time. I’m sure we can find some games in Diagon Alley that you would love to play.” Severus knew that Petunia most likely made a huge deal out of her son’s birthday. He knew she ignored his son's. Sebastian had never had a birthday party and didn't even know his own birthday until last year.

“We pick? No loud music, no loud screaming? No one hitting me, Bat?”

“It’s your day. We can have any type of party you like. No one will ever hit you if they do, you come and tell me or the Dark Lord.” Severus gave him a smile. “How about we go tomorrow and see what we can find?”

“We find an ice cream cake? One that has chocolate and vanilla, Bat?”

“I think we can manage that.” Severus glanced up as the Dark Lord fully entered the room. They were going to make this the best birthday for Sebastian. “You want to join us?”

“I would love it.” The Dark Lord knew they would have to go early in the morning before the crowds would arrive around mid-morning.

_____________________________________________________

Sebastian looked at Quirrell lying on the bed then to the Dark Lord, who was also on the bed. He looked at Severus. Sebastian frowned. “Sebastian, it’s ok. We are now separated. Remember when I explained what was going to happen to me?” They had set up two big beds in the ritual room for the Dark Lord and Quirrell to recover on.

Sebastian went up to the Dark Lord. He touched him gently on the arm. “You still you?” He kept prodding the Dark Lord as if he wasn’t real.

The Dark Lord was still tired. He knew he needed more time to recover but he also knew that Sebastian needed to see him. “Yes, Bas, I’m still me. Do you see the blackness on Quirinus head?” Filius had confirmed that Sebastian could see magic but more of an aura around a person. The aura allowed Sebastian to tell him who was dangerous and who wasn’t. It explained why Sebastian didn’t trust Dumbledore, Granger, Ron or Molly Weasley.

“No. He still him and you still you?” Sebastian pointed at Quirrell. “No more pair?” He went to Quirrell and poked him. “You you.” He seemed a bit surprised. “No more pair.”

“Exactly, we are separated now. Quirrell is going to go home and I will return to Hogwarts.” The Dark Lord explained. “His wife is waiting for him.” They had discussed Quirrell’s wife with Sebastian, so Sebastian knew who she was. Quirrell had shown Sebastian a picture. His wife sent Sebastian some chocolate from Mexico and some books that explained the different countries in South America.

Sebastian made a face at the idea of returning to Hogwarts. “Mean Weasley’s mother will be gone?” Sebastian hadn’t forgiven the woman for taking his coloring book away. He also didn’t like her idea of him flying. Sebastian only flew if Severus took him or he could ride Draco child’s broom with Severus standing close by.

“She won’t be there. No one will be bossing you around except for Severus or me.” The Dark Lord laughed. The Dark Lord wondered how they reacted to the prank. He still hoped the Weasley Twins didn’t get the blame for the prank.

Sebastian crawled up and into the bed with the Dark Lord. He moved so he was snuggled against the Dark Lord. He yawned a bit. “Now you can marry my Bat?” Severus wanted to groan. Sebastian was always eager when the Dark Lord and Severus had a date night.

Lucius and Narcissa started laughing. Severus groaned, again. Severus was thankful that Sebastian wasn’t calling him Mommy all the time. “Bas, remember what we talked about?” Severus knew everyone was tired. They had been up late and Sebastian woke them up early wanting to check on the Dark Lord. Draco, however, slept right through Sebastian’s eagerness to see the Dark Lord. It wasn’t even light out.

“You said that when Pair was back to being him that you could be together.” Sebastian’s stuffed bat landed on the Dark Lord’s stomach as Sebastian rest his right arm on the Dark Lord’s stomach. He laid his head on the Dark Lord’s chest. He wiggled a bit and settled down.

“I said we would work on being together.” Severus walked around the bed and sat down next to Sebastian. He summoned a blanket and wrapped it around Sebastian. He began to tuck Sebastian in.

“You nap with us?” Sebastian looked at Severus over his shoulder. “We family, now. Is Quirinus’ wife coming to get him?”

Quirrell laughed. “No, little one, I’m going to use an international port-key later today to go home.” Quirrell was actually eager to see his wife. He knew he would always be welcomed back and wasn’t worried about being forgotten.

Sebastian rose up a bit. “Bye. We sleep now.” He lay back down. “Bat, you too, you sleep with us.”

Lucius laughed again as he and Narcissa noxxed the candles and left the room.

___________________________________________________________

The Dark Lord tossed the letter on his desk. Severus was behind him as he sat at his desk. “I can’t believe that old man.”

“I can’t either. I am not returning until the week before the students are due to arrive. I have everything done.” Severus sat down. They had breakfast and Sebastian was playing with Nagini, Draco, Neville, Theo, and Blaise in the garden.

“I will have Lucius check with the Board. I don’t think he told them he was asking the staff to return in the middle of August.” The Dark Lord was going to head to Lucius’ after lunch. He knew that Severus would be down in the lab with all of the boys prepping them for next year’s potions.

“He is doing it so he can get that book into Sebastian’s hands before the Weasleys return to Hogwarts.” Severus hated that Dumbledore was planning on using his son in such a way. He was furious with the man’s total disregard for his and his son’s life.

“I agree. It would give him time to build a rapport with Sebastian and allow him to show Sebastian that Weasley is only trying to be a friend.” The Dark Lord was very familiar with how Dumbledore worked. The man had a wonderful grandfather act down but in reality, he was a general who was used to getting his own way. Nowhere in the magical world history was anyone else Chief Warlock, Headmaster, Board member, and had a position on the ICW.

“He is so used to controlling everything. He doesn’t like that Sebastian isn’t falling in line with his plans. He is also not happy with my interference. I wonder what he will say when he realizes that Sebastian already knows the truth. Granted it’s not the truth he wants everyone to believe but it is the truth.”

Sebastian had actually taken the news really well. They had thought he hadn’t processed what they told him but when they spoke to him two days later, Sebastian’s simply stated that since the Dark Lord didn’t kill his parents he wasn’t worried about it. He told them that Dumbledore would get his one day, after all, evil never wins. They didn’t push the conversation.

___________________________________________

Lucius flooed into Prince Manor’s foyer. He dusted himself off and headed to find the Dark Lord. He wasn’t surprised to find them in the library. Draco, Neville, and Sebastian were playing a game on the floor while Severus and the Dark Lord were reading.

Lucius greeted everyone. As soon as everyone was settled back down, Lucius took his own seat and took a sip of tea that one of the elves had put down on the table next to his chair. He waited until Severus put up a silencing charm around the boys. “No one has to return until 24th of August.”

“I bet he wasn’t happy about that.” Severus smiled.

“No, he wasn’t. Minerva was there and showed that everyone had already submitted their teaching plans, all the classrooms were ready, and Poppy sent along her own paperwork showing the Infirmary was well stocked and ready.” Lucius took a sip of his tea. “Another interesting thing was that the Board warned him ahead of time that Molly Weasley wasn’t to be admitted into Hogwarts.”

They had shown Lucius and Lady Longbottom the parchment from the conversation between Dumbledore and Molly Weasley. Lucius had checked the Ministry for a marriage contract and didn’t find anything. Lady Longbottom had searched through the information that Alice had left behind and didn’t find anything. She boxed everything up and gave it to the Dark Lord to look through. They were still sorting through the stuff from the Potters. Severus had Ironclaw collect all the important information from the house in Godric’s Hollow. The Dark Lord collected the stuff he had added his own blood protection too. Lady Longbottom, Severus, Lucius, Narcissa, and the Dark Lord had been sorting the papers, the journals, books, and even the medical information that Lily had gathered. It would take a while due to the damage from the night of the attack. Some of the stuff was burned, some had water damage, and some was totally destroyed due to the elements.

“So Molly must still be living at his house. I wonder how he is handling that?”

“I’m not sure. He was warned that he needed to leave Hogwarts for the wards to be renewed when the goblins arrive on the 14th.” Lucius knew Dumbledore only owned the one property and he would have to endure Molly Weasley twenty-fours a day for at least two weeks.

Severus shuddered at the idea of having to spend any time with Molly Weasley. He had been ready to kill her when she was in the staff room. “One less problem to deal with. We still have her two youngest and Dumbledore’s idea on the book.”

“Oh, on the book. I picked up three books for each of us to have a copy. It will be proof that we didn’t fake it since I spoke to Rookwood and he gave me a spell that will also record the dates and times that Dumbledore writes in the book. I had the goblins certify the books.”

“Excellent.” The Dark Lord wanted to be able to do a lot of damage to Dumbledore and have the man ruined legally. He knew it would be a tough job but it would be worth it. He was going to ruin Molly Weasley too. 

____________________________________________________

Severus looked at a pouting Sebastian. Sebastian was sitting on his bed. He wasn’t happy about returning to Hogwarts. “It’s only two days. Tom is coming.” Severus was still trying to get used to calling the Dark Lord, Tom, but he was dating the man. He had spent so many years refusing to even think of the Dark Lord as Tom. For a decade, he never used the Dark Lord's real name.

Sebastian held up Chaos, who was purring.  “Everyone coming with us?”

“Yes, of course, no one will be left behind. Tina, Chaos, Nagini, and even your stuffed bat.” Severus thought the cat was the best gift he could have given Sebastian. Sebastian had grown a bit since he had to take care of his cat but was still his little bat. “You don’t need to pack everything. Remember this is your room so you can leave things here.” Severus noticed how empty the shelves were.

“Of course my bat is coming with my Bat.” Sebastian looked at his overflowing trunk. “I can leave things here?”

“Yes. Do you want me to help you pick?” Sebastian seemed to have an internal debate. “We can always have Tina get anything you need and we will be here for the Yule holiday.”

“Okie dokie.” Sebastian released his cat and together they sorted Sebastian’s trunk.


	16. Chapter 16

They had been back one day and the staff looked ready to kill Dumbledore. The news story about Molly living with Dumbledore had made the paper this morning. It was all Rita's twisted version. It was after dinner and they were having another staff meeting. Sebastian was sitting on the floor, next to Severus, guarding his coloring book in case Molly Weasley made an appearance as he colored. Sebastian also made sure he was away from Dumbledore. 

***********************Flashback********************

Sebastian was sitting between Severus and the Dark Lord waiting for breakfast to start. Severus, the Dark Lord, Sebastian, and Filius were discussing a new charm to teach Sebastian who had asked about cleaning Chaos. Chaos wasn't normally a dirty cat but he had gotten into the greenhouse and rolled around in some fertilizer that Pomona Stout had on the side of greenhouse one to use later on the Devil's Snare. Chaos didn't seem to believe it was a problem. Dumbledore finally arrived and signaled for breakfast to start. Everyone was quietly discussing their summer holiday when the owls dropped off the morning's paper.

DUMBLEDORE AND MOLLY WEASLEY LIVING TOGETHER!

By Rita Skeeter

I'm sure everyone has seen Mrs. Arthur Weasley working at Aberforth Dumbledore's tavern. Mrs. Weasley has been telling everyone it was to assist her family. We all are aware of the struggles a large family can put on the strain of a families finances and supported her fully. However, I was shocked to discover that Mrs. Weasley has been living with Headmaster Albus Dumbledore all summer. She hasn't been aiding her family as she has been telling everyone.

Yes, that is correct, my readers, you read it here first. Mrs. Arthur Weasley and Headmaster Albus Dumbledore are living together and have been all summer. The new couple moved into his small cottage in Godric's Hollow after they left Hogwarts for the rest of their summer holiday. Mrs. Weasley had been living at Hogwarts after the students left until they left for the Headmaster's house. What were they doing all alone all summer?

A married woman and the Headmaster of Hogwarts have made sure not to be seen together in Diagon Alley or Hogsmeade but several people saw them in Godric's Hollow. Mrs. Weasley has certainly been busy turning the Headmaster's house into a home, many commented. They noticed her garden and even the new curtain hanging in the windows. Many heard her override the Headmaster's choices regarding their new home.

Mrs. Weasley had originally had her two youngest at Hogwarts with her when she moved in with the Headmaster. Fear not, my readers, their father stepped in and demanded their return to his home. Kudos, Arthur Weasley for preventing the further corruption of your children. None of the children have seen their mother all holiday but not for lack of trying. However, it appears Mrs. Weasley doesn't wish them at her new abode.

Mrs. Molly Weasley and her two youngers, Ronald and Ginevra, originally moved into Hogwarts the day after all the students went home. Many could see the two young Weasleys flying outside in the Quidditch Pitch. They saw the two in Hogsmeade buying candy. They were running wild, no supervision, no one was watching anything they were doing. They were even heard bragging about not getting into any trouble in the forthcoming year due to Headmaster.

Mrs. Weasley was in attendance when Headmaster Dumbledore demanded that the staff remain an extra two weeks after they were originally scheduled to go on their holiday. Mrs. Weasley was even in attendance during staff meetings. Mrs. Weasley was giving Professor Severus Snape orders concerning the proper way to raise his child. When Professor Snape didn't listen, Mrs. Weasley wanted the Headmaster to use coercion to get her way with Professor Snape. She even wanted him to throw Professor Snape into Azkaban. 

The coercion was so out of control that Mrs. Weasley kept demanding that everyone call Sebastian Snape, Harry Potter. She even removed the boy's coloring book. Sebastian Snape was coloring during another long, dragged out, boring staff meeting when she snatched his book up and insisted that he would be going flying with her two youngest. 

I'm sure I'm not the only one shocked by such disgraceful behavior. A married woman with seven children moving into the house of the Headmaster. Should we wonder if there have been others? We have already seen her two youngest getting special attention and privileges. What does that mean for the students at Hogwarts who the youngest Weasleys have voiced their feelings about? We all are aware of the vocalization of Mrs. Weasley and Ronald Weasley about anyone being in Slytherin. 

Was the coercion by Mrs. Arthur Weasley the reason for the request all the stuff return to Hogwarts earlier? What is Mrs. Weasley's interest in gaining control over Sebastian Snape? What does our Headmaster of Hogwarts doing regarding the attempts by this woman to gain control over Sebastian Snape? Perhaps, it would be best if Mr. Weasley had his children given an Inheritance Test.

Severus looked up from reading the article. The rest of the staff was in shock at reading what Rita Skeeter wrote. "Albus?" Minerva finally found her voice. 

Dumbledore was rereading the article. He couldn't believe the story. He knew it wasn't leaked out by his staff as there were events that only happened when he was with Molly. No one but Molly knew about her desire to send Severus to Azkaban. "I believe it's a slight misunderstanding. We know how Rita writes." 

"Albus, she has things in here that happened. Events that are factual." Minerva could see the twist but there were more facts in the story then exaggeration by Rita. 

The Dark Lord hid his smirk. Lucius did an excellent job of getting Rita after Molly Weasley. They watched Dumbledore rise from his seat. "I have to take care of a few matters. We really don't want this misunderstanding to get out of control." 

****************End Flashback*************************

"Albus, we have already had everything ready. We have five more days before the students arrive and so far I have personally rearranged my office twice just to kill time." Minerva wasn't a happy woman. She had spent all day yesterday fielding the howlers for Dumbledore. Today, she had spent day rearranging her office to avoid seeing Dumbledore. 

Most of the staff had found things to do to avoid seeing Dumbledore and to kill time. "Yes, normally this is the time I use to finalize lessons plans, even last minute cleaning of the dorms. We did it before we left." Pomona Stout was still a tad upset about her Devil's Snare getting hurt by the two Gryffindors who didn't care they hurt the plant.

"Good, good. We will be ready for when the students return." Dumbledore ignored what everyone was saying and continued discussing the dorms and common rooms.

_________________________________________________________________

"Bat, Bat, come here." Sebastian was standing in the doorway to his bedroom. 

Severus wasn't sure what was wrong but something was bothering his son. His son was distressed. He got up and headed to Sebastian's bedroom. "What is wrong?" He looked around the room. It was as neat as it always was. Even the books were stacked neatly.

"Look, on desk. New book. I didn't want that book." Sebastian pointed to the stack of books. He didn't move closer to his desk but remained by the door. "I wanted to read the new book Short Professor gave me but that book is touching it."

Severus didn't think Dumbledore would stick the book in so soon. He had thought the man would have waited until all the students had returned and classes started. He flicked his wrist. "Tina."

"Yes, Master Potion Master?" Tina appeared and seeing the bad book, frowned.

"Get the Dark Lord." Tina popped away as Severus ran a few scans on the book. There were no compulsions, no wards, no spells beyond the spellcrafting to make the book work as a communications book. 

The Dark Lord arrived with Tina. "Severus?"

"He added the book." Severus picked the book up. "Sebastian, you did a great job in telling me. How about you and Tina go and get a biscuit then you need to get washed up for bed." 

"New book will be gone?" Sebastian didn't like the feel of the book. "It felt weird." 

"Yes. It will be gone. You get anything like it again you let us know." 

"I always do, Bat." Sebastian took hold of Tina's hand. 

Once Sebastian was out of his room, Severus and the Dark Lord opened the book. Nothing happened for several minutes. They were about to close the book when writing appeared. "He must have been busy doing something." The Dark Lord had seen Dumbledore heading to his quarters after the staff meeting. 

~Hello.~ Appeared in the book.

"I'm not going to respond, Sebastian wouldn't." Severus knew Dumbledore wasn't expecting instant communication. 

~I won't hurt you. I'm just wanting a new friend. It gets lonely being a book.~ 

"That is a different approach. I thought he was going to go with the I want to help you learn attitude." The Dark Lord shook his head. "He even changed his writing style." The Dark Lord glanced at Severus. "Do you think he might have used Molly?" 

"No, she is to blunt. She wouldn't be able to resist treating Sebastian like one of her children and start instructing him how to behave. She believed she is the best mother and acts as if she is allowed to mother everyone." Severus had wanted to kill the woman the first time she had done it at an Order meeting before Lily was killed. She had tried to get Severus to change his wardrobe. She told him how to teach and even sent him magazines on fashion, teaching methods, and how to be a better wizard. 

"I'll let Lucius and Narcissa know. Let's get this book linked to ours and theirs. I can send them out in the morning." 

"The man is a fool." Severus thought as the next line appeared in the book. 

~Do you like lemon drops?~


	17. Chapter 17

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A Mother's Day outtake

"It's for what?" Sebastian looked at Draco who was writing out a card. 

"Mother's Day. I want to make sure Mother gets it in time." Draco continued drawing his card. "I was going to buy one but I forgot when it was Hogsmeade weekend. I used to make them when I was younger and I thought she would like me to make another one." 

"What are you going to draw?" Sebastian looked at the colored pencils and crayons. He touched the parchment paper. "No special paper?" 

"No. You can draw on anything to make a card. See, I folded it in half so I could draw on the front and write on the inside." Draco showed Sebastian what he meant.

Sebastian watched Draco closely as Draco drew his card. "What you writing?" 

"Just how much I love my mother. She likes it when I get all mushy." Draco made a face. "It's a mother thing I think."

"Oh!" Sebastian smiled. 

___________________________________________________________

"Bas?" The Dark Lord was a bit surprised to see Tina bringing Sebastian to him.

"I need to make a card." Sebastian opened his satchel. He pulled out his color pencils and some parchment. "Dray made one, I need to make one for Bat."

"I see." The Dark Lord wasn't sure what was going on. "What reason are you making a card for?"

"Mother's Day." Sebastian looked at the Dark Lord. "You help? Dray said we need to write something mushy inside." 

"I will help." The Dark Lord wanted to be there when Sebastian gave the card to Severus. "What do you want to draw?" He knew the card was going to have at least one bat on it. 

"We have to put my Bat on it, you too." Sebastian held up the parchment. "Dray said it has to be folded."

"I see." The Dark Lord smiled. "Let's get started."

 

___________________________________________________

Severus looked at Sebastian and the Dark Lord. "What is going on?" 

"It's Mother's Day." Sebastian held out his card. He started bouncing in place as he watched Severus.

Severus looked down at the card. He wasn't thrilled with getting a Mother's days card but he wasn't going to remove the look of pure joy on Sebastian's face. 

Severus loved the drawings. "Very good." He opened the card. 

You Let Me Know You Love Me

You let me know you love me  
In so many different ways.  
You make me feel important  
With encouragement and praise.

You're always there when I need you  
To comfort and to care.  
I know I'm in your thoughts;  
Your love follows me everywhere.

Thank you for all you've done  
And given so generously.  
I love you, my wonderful mother;  
You're a heaven-sent blessing to me.

(By Joanna Fuchs)

"We found the poem in a book." Sebastian tugged the Dark Lord's hand. "Tell him." 

"Yes, it took us almost three days. He wanted a certain poem." 

"I love it, thank you. However, remember no calling me mother, mum, or mamma in public." Severus watched the Dark Lord hid his smile. 

"I won't, you are my bat, anyway." Sebastian hugged Severus. "Now, we go and get ice cream?"

"Yes, you monster, we can go and get some ice cream." Severus already arranged for them to be able to sneak out without Dumbledore knowing. Minerva and Filius were going to keep Dumbledore busy with a meeting on budget requirements.


	18. Chapter 18

The Dark Lord and Severus flipped through the pages of the book. "He certainly doesn't give up."

"No. All he talks about is how wonderful Gryffindor is, how great he is, and how the Weasley family is so kind and loving." Severus knew Dumbledore favored his Lions but the way he was bragging about Gryffindor made Severus believe that Dumbledore only saw Gryffindors as worthy of being wizards.

The Dark Lord knew Lucius had also read the book. They had tried to get the man to discuss other things but he never changed his tactics. "I'm still wondering why he is trying this avenue. He hasn't written anything beyond the basic start of any conversation." 

"I believe he is hoping Sebastian will start asking questions. Perhaps we should." Severus flipped through the pages. They had been answering the basic questions for almost two months. Dumbledore always opened by asking one or two questions. After that, he would go on about whatever topic he had selected. 

"Keep them simple. He would enjoy that idea and believe he is making headway. He won't confront Sebastian or even speak to Sebastian about what was written." The Dark Lord took the book from Severus. "We will make sure Sebastian is protected. Sebastian doesn't trust him." 

"I'm aware." Severus had been trying for the past two months to figure out why Dumbledore was playing these games. All he could conclude was that Dumbledore didn't want to admit the truth, didn't want to accept that Sebastian wasn't going to be his pawn.

"Good. Now since Sebastian is sleeping in the dorm, how about we enjoy some alone time without Dumbledore and his ploys."

Severus smiled. "What do you have in mind?" 

"Dinner, wine, fire, and we can go from there." The Dark Lord leaned in and kissed Severus on the lips. "We have all night." 

"Yes, we do. I already put the wards up." Severus set wards on his quarters and on Slytherin.

_________________________________________________________

 

A white cat Patronus flowed into Severus' classroom. swirled around Severus. "Severus, come quickly. Sebastian. Transfiguration classroom." The Patronus dissipated.

"Mr. Robson, take charge. Class, read chapter 6." Severus didn't wait for a response before he was already out the door. Severus dashed up to Minerva's class and as he neared the classroom, he could hear Sebastian screaming. He turned the corner and saw Sebastian in the middle of the hall, screaming and pulling his hair. Sebastian only pulled his hair when he was extremely distressed. Tina was keeping everyone away. Every time she tried to touch Sebastian, he pulled away. 

Severus scooped Sebastian into his arms. "I have you, Little Bat." He started to rub his hand down Sebastian's back. Sebastian was crying into his neck, with his arms wrapped around Severus' neck in a death grip. Severus couldn't understand what Sebastian was saying as he had his head buried in Severus' neck. All he could understand was "red bit me." He started walking in a small circle. As he walked he looked around and saw Ginny Weasley and Minerva together. The students were all watching the girl. He knew the girl had to be responsible for whatever happened. He worked on calming Sebastian down. He wanted to get Sebastian out of the crowd and walked toward Minerva's office. 

Once in Minerva's office, he started to walk the length of the office. He ignored Minerva when she entered with Ginny Weasley. Minerva wasn't very happy. Severus knew that Sebastian had her class now. The bell had just rung when Minerva's Patronus arrived. "Minerva, calming draught is in my potion pouch. Summon it, please." Severus felt his pouch leave his robe pocket. Sebastian was calm enough that the potion should work.

Minerva held the potion bottle up for Sebastian to drink from. "Little Bat, drink the potion for me." Severus watched Sebastian open his eyes and he made a face but drank the potion. No one spoke for several minutes until Severus sat down in one of Minerva's chairs that were in front of her desk. Ginny sat down on the chair next to his. "What happened?"

Minerva took her seat behind her desk. "Tina popped Sebastian into my class. Sebastian waited by the door as the other students from the previous class were leaving. Ginny was one of the last to leave. She stopped by Sebastian and started talking to him. I have no idea what was being said but Sebastian started to step away. Sebastian started screaming about her trying to bite him."

"I wasn't trying to bite him. I gave him a kiss. I asked him to be my boyfriend."

"When did you ask him out?" Minerva glanced at Severus who was a bit surprised. 

"At breakfast. I always wanted to date Sebastian." The girl looked at Sebastian with love-filled eyes. She went to touch Sebastian but stopped at the look on Severus' face.

"Did you explain what a boyfriend means?" Minerva knew this wasn't good. She knew that Sebastian didn't know what a boyfriend/girlfriend relation involved and certainly wouldn't want anyone touching him. Sebastian only let a few people touch him. Most of the staff that worked with Sebastian could touch him. It had taken almost a year for that to happen.

"Yes, I told him that he is a boy, I'm a girl. I would be his girlfriend and he would be my boyfriend. We will date until we graduated from Hogwarts. He will go into Auror Training Program, I will fly for the Harpies. After Sebastian becomes an Auror, we will get married. A year later, our first child will be born." 

Severus felt his anger rise but Sebastian started to react to his anger so he worked on calming himself down as listened to Ginny. He glanced at Minerva who lost her cool demeanor. She looked stunned. "Miss Weasley, Sebastian isn't your boyfriend. You won't be marrying him. I'm his guardian. Telling someone they are your boyfriend doesn't make it so."

"I asked. Ask him." 

Severus wanted to smack the smug look off of the girl's face. "Little Bat?" He knew that Sebastian was dozing. The Calm Draught always made Sebastian sleepy. Sebastian had his head resting on Severus' shoulder. His eyes were closed.

"Bat." Sebastian opened his eyes. He felt safe and secure in Severus' arms.

"Do you know what a boyfriend is?" Severus knew this was going to be interesting and he knew the Dark Lord was going to enjoy this story. Severus also recognized this was Molly and Dumbledore's influence. 

"Yes, it's a boy who is a friend. A girlfriend is a girl who is a friend. Why she tried to bite me?" Sebastian pointed at Ginny. "She told me we friends. Friends don't bite each other." Sebastian lowered his voice a bit. "I didn't want to be her friend. I didn't agree."

"I will explain it later." Severus wasn't going to enjoy that conversation but he knew he would need to have it sooner rather than later considering the relationship status between him and the Dark Lord. 

Minerva covered her smirk. "Ten points from Gryffindor. Three detentions. I will inform you when they will be. You are also going to be writing an essay on what consent means and why it's important."

Severus rose from his chair. "You will not refer to Sebastian as your boyfriend in any terms. You will keep your distance from him." Severus didn't give the girl time to respond as he started walking out the door. He heard Minerva start to lecture the girl on respecting students.


	19. Chapter 19

Severus was still holding Sebastian when the Dark Lord entered his quarters. Severus was sitting at his desk with Sebastian watching him as he corrected some assignments. Sebastian gave a slight wave with his stuffed bat in his hand. Severus was a bit worried as Sebastian hadn't spoken since they left Minerva's office. Severus was just happy he wasn't pulling his hair out or screaming.

"I heard." The Dark Lord answered the unasked question. He had heard about the situation his next class. Since it wasn't even lunchtime it meant the rumor mill had worked overtime in spreading the story. He hadn't had a chance to speak to any of the staff members but the students were not impressed by the youngest Weasley's actions. Many were questioning the Weasley's family life. 

"I canceled the rest of my classes for the day. I expect Dumbledore won't be happy with the newest development." Severus put his quill and ink away. He really didn't care if he lost his job. He was actually hoping Dumbledore would give him a reason to quit. He knew the Dark Lord was only here because he and Sebastian were here. Sebastian wouldn't care if he left Hogwarts. 

The Dark Lord held out his hands to see if Sebastian would let him pick him up. Severus started to pass Sebastian over but Sebastian refused to be moved. "May I give you a hug?" The Dark Lord wasn't surprised. He knew Sebastian always wanted Severus. Severus was the one who saved him from his relatives and that wasn't a link that would be broken. 

Sebastian looked up at the Dark Lord. "You won't try to bite me?" Sebastian had his stuffed bat tucked against his chest. His other hand was wrapped in Severus' robe. Chaos was by Severus' feet. 

"No, I promise. I never have and I never will." The Dark Lord resisted the urge to laugh. Severus had turned his own head. Sebastian held up his arms. The Dark Lord picked him up. "How does lunch in the kitchen sound?" Sebastian settled on the Dark Lord's right hip. 

"Why did Weasel's sister try to bite me?" He didn't like the girl's brother. He liked the twins and Percy. They were always nice to him. The twins always showed him some tricks. They also gave him chocolate frogs. He always gave them to Severus to eat after he ate his dinner. 

Severus knew they were going to have to explain something but he wasn't ready for the facts of life talk. He got up. "I'll get some tea." He was hoping there wouldn't be any embarrassing questions. 

The Dark Lord arched a brow and mouthed "coward" at Severus. "She wasn't trying to bite you, she wanted to kiss you."

Sebastian made a face. "Why? I don't want a girl kissing me. Do you mean like what you and Bat do when you think I can't see you?"

Severus and the Dark Lord laughed. "Exactly. You are way to young for that by the way for a girl kissing you or you kissing a girl. You come and tell me or your Bat if someone wants to kiss you." 

"I will. What about boys? I don't want to kiss them but I don't want to get a kiss." Sebastian laid his head down on the Dark Lord's shoulder. "You stay here?"

"I have classes after lunch. I can visit after dinner in the Great Hall." The Dark Lord tackled the next part. "You might want to kiss boys later. We don't care if you want to kiss a boy or girl. However, never permit anyone into forcing you into kissing or anything else. You check with me or Severus."

"I will. You will still kiss me but not like she wanted too? She had her mouth opened. She even licked her lips. Are you sure she wasn't trying to bite me?" 

"Yes, I'm sure. We will still kiss you. So will Severus, Lucius, and Narcissa as it's a different type of kissing. We won't be opening our mouths." The Dark Lord wasn't looking forward to giving the talk if this was the type of questions he was going to receive. 

"Tea and some chocolate biscuits. You want to get down and have some?" Severus was trying to cover his laughter but he was smiling as the Dark Lord carried Sebastian to the couch. Chaos meowing for some cream.

________________________________________________________

Severus and the Dark Lord were sitting next to each other as Dumbledore was discussing students in the latest staff meeting. He had already covered the night patrols and tried to get Severus to take an additional day but Severus refused. He wasn't Dumbledore's stooge any longer. He wasn't just going to agree with whatever Dumbledore wanted. "Any issues with the students we should be aware of?" 

Severus thought Dumbledore really needed to rephrase that question. In his opinion, there were a lot of students they needed to be aware of. Most of the Gryffindors fell into that category.

"I feel we need to watch Ms. Weasley. She has been insisting that she will marry Sebastian and that they are boyfriend and girlfriend despite the incident outside of Minerva's classroom. She was telling Ms. Lovegood during my class." Professor Sprout enjoyed her time with Sebastian. He had almost a natural talent as Neville. Neville and Sebastian spent a lot of time in the greenhouse.

"I have spoken to her about the situation but she has been told the stories for years about Harry Potter. She shan't be speaking about it." Minerva stared at Dumbledore almost daring him to say something. "Sebastian won't enter my class until she is gone."

"I am having the same issue except he wants to leave before she arrives. He calls for Tina slightly before the bell." Filius didn't mind actually as Sebastian always did it quietly and at the last ten seconds of the class.

"He is?" Severus wasn't sure if he liked this new development. "I will speak to him to make sure there isn't another issue." Sebastian liked routine and didn't like it changed. Ginny Weasley's kissing attempt interrupted that routine. Sebastian hadn't mentioned anything but avoiding Ginny Weasley wasn't a bad thing.

"Yes. However, it's not an issue. He never leaves class early or arrives late." Minerva reassured Severus. 

Most of the staff knew not to ask Dumbledore about Molly Weasley. She was still living at Dumbledore's house but was looking for work. She had been fired from the Leaky Cauldron after she was fired from almost every other job she had held. She had been bossing their clients around and stopped serving them any mead or ale when she thought they had enough. When no one else spoke Dumbledore finally dismissed them. They knew the man wanted them to say that Sebastian leaving early or arriving late. Dumbledore had been trying to get Neville, Draco, and Sebastian to study with Granger and Weasley. 

______________________________________________________________

"Hi." 

Sebastian looked up. Standing next to him was a blond haired girl. She had her wand behind her ear and funny earrings hanging from her ears. She wore a bottle cap necklace. "Hi."

"May I sit down, Sebastian?" 

Sebastian looked around. "You aren't going to try and bite me?" He had seen the girl with Weasel's sister. 

"No, I promise. The nargles are protecting you." The girl sat down. "I'm Luna Lovegood. I live next door to the Weasels. The twins usually protect me."

"Like the moon?" Sebastian pointed to his book on the galaxy. "The twins gave me a frog." He held up the frog. "I'm saving it for later. My Bat doesn't like me eating snacks all day." 

"Yes, it's Latin for moon." Luna smiled. "Frogs are good."

"Sebastian, who is your new friend?" Neville sat down. Draco joined them, sitting between Neville and Sebastian. 

"Luna Lovegood. She isn't going to bite me. Her name means moon and she likes frogs too." 

"She is a second cousin, Bas. Her father is my father's cousin. Pleasure seeing you again, cousin." Draco inclined his head. "This is heir Neville Longbottom." 

"Pleasure. The nargles protect you, too. You are very good for the Little Bat." Luna pulled out her Charms book. They studied and chatted for a while. Luna finally rose. "I have a class. Thank you for studying with me. It was like having friends." Luna serenely said.

"Bye. You will study with us again?" Sebastian had enjoyed studying with the girl. She wasn't like any of the other girls in Hogwarts. Draco and Neville hid their smirks. Sebastian finally got over his fear of girls.


	20. Chapter 20

Draco, Neville, Luna, and Sebastian were sitting at the Slytherin table in the Great Hall, studying. They had a free period before lunch and decided to study at in the Great Hall. Luna had become a regular part of their group and seemed to understand Sebastian. Blaise, Theo, Pansy, and Daphne were also sitting with them. They were working on a potion essay that Severus had assigned.

The four of them made an odd group to outsiders. The dreamy Lovegood, the plant lover Longbottom, the political pure-blood Malfoy, and the child-like Snape. They didn't seem like they had anything in common but yet the group of four were best friends. They had numerous friends in all houses but usually were seen all together. The older Slytherins were very protective of the group. Gemma always made sure that someone was with the group if they had a free period. Today, she was down at the other end of the table working on her own assignments with her boyfriend and her friends. 

The hall was quiet except for the quiet voice of the various groups. They treated the study time as if they were in the library. The Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs were on the other side of the hall. Any Gryffindors were sitting with other houses. The quiet was broken by Weaslette entering with her brother and Granger. Weasley and Granger went to the Gryffindor table but Weaslette headed for Sebastian. "Harry!" No one looked up and kept on ignoring her as she stood between Luna and Neville. "Harry, aren't you going to say hi?"

The group of Slytherins looked at her. Luna smiled, serenely. "Who's Harry?"

"He's Harry, Harry Potter." Weaslette pointed at Sebastian. 

"No, I'm Sebastian Snape, you called me it before." Sebastian didn't trust the girl.

"You really are Harry Potter. You should be proud of your parents. You will be Lord Potter, one day. Just because Snape adopted you doesn't mean you should forget about your true parents." 

Sebastian tilted his head. "Are you off your potions? You seem confused. First I'm Sebastian, now I'm Harry. You might need to visit Madam Pomfrey, she might help."

"It's the Scarlet Pickle-Crumble Bird. She loves to disillusion people." Luna took Weaslette's hand. "Don't worry, Madam Pomfrey will help."

"What?" Weaslette jerked her hand away from Luna. "I'm fine."

Granger loudly commented to Weasley. "There isn't such a thing as a Scarlet Pickle-Crumble Bird."

"Why do you even bother speaking to her? There is a reason why we call her Loony." Weasley yelled over to his sister. "Snape's got him brainwashed into believing that Harry is really Sebastian." He informed Granger. 

"Oh, I read all about that. How cults and their leaders control and manipulate people into doing what they want. There are a lot of religions and other types of cults. The Death Eaters could be a cult. They have the same mental process that is required." 

Draco, Neville, Luna, exchanged glances as Weaslette reached across the table and grabbed Sebastian's hand. "You're in danger. You must be in a cult." As Weaslette grabbed Sebastian's hand a few things happened at the same time. Sebastian started screaming. Gemma had risen from her seat. Draco and Neville reached for Weaslette's arm as Severus and the Dark Lord were entering the Great Hall since lunch was due to start in about ten minutes. 

Severus wasted no time in snatching Sebastian up from his chair. "What happened?" 

"She grabbed his arm." Draco was glaring at the three Gryffindors as the rest of the students added what lead up to Weaslette grabbing Sebastian's arm. Sebastian quieted down as he remained in Severus' arms. Severus watched and listened as the Dark Lord got the full story from all those present. As he listened he realized Dumbledore had been at work again. Dumbledore was expecting Sebastian to react to what Dumbledore had told them in the book.

_________________________________________________

"Professor Snape, may I ask a question about school policy?" Neville had been cleaning up the potion lab with Draco and Sebastian. 

"Certainly." Severus was finishing marking the last bottles of healing potions they had created. 

"I was wondering what the policy is for going home on the weekends?" 

"There isn't an official policy. It is strongly discouraged as if students did that each weekend we would have to schedule extra trips with the Hogwarts Express since it's such a long train ride to Kings' Cross." Severus finished the label. "If students had port-keys we would have to set up a new set of wards for protection. For those you could floo, we would have to buy more floo powder, set up a schedule, and protective floo connections." 

"Why? Do you want to visit your Gram?" Draco had been writing out the re-order form as Sebastian was bundling the unused ingredients. 

"No, I was with Luna in the library. Dean and Seamus joined us and Seamus mentioned how nice it was that the youngest two Weasleys were never there on the weekends. The Twins and Percy weren't happy about it. Dean said Percy was going to write a letter to his father." 

"I see." Severus pieced the last bit of the puzzle together. They hadn't been sure how Weaslette had joined the Harry Potter bandwagon. The girl had been calling him Sebastian. Now, it seemed as if Molly had been having visits from her two youngest, despite the fact that she wasn't allowed. 

________________________________________________

Lucius pulled the floo report for Hogwarts. Every weekend since school started there were two exits from Hogwarts on Friday night and two returning on Sunday night. He looked down the hall to Arthur Weasley's department. Many were wondering if Molly Weasley had done something to the man. The man changed since he removed her from the house. He wasn't a doormat, he wasn't fixated on muggles, but the biggest change was the man was acting more like a pure-blood. Lucius made a decision. One he hoped would allow them to gain an ally. He walked down to Arthur's office with the reports. 

__________________________________________________________

Breakfast was almost done when the mail arrived. Everyone recognized the Weasley's owl, Earl, as he flew into a beam in the ceiling and dropped to the table. The Twins removed the letters from the owl as he wobbled a bit to keep from falling over. 

The Twins passed out the letters. Everyone was reading their own mail when suddenly Weasley threw an apple at the twins. "You told, how could you?" 

Weaslette yanked her brother down. "You need to read all of the letter. Dad says the floo report told him." 

"What?" Weasley picked up his letter. Anyone who was watching the twins noticed they grin they exchanged. 

_____________________________________________________

"Bat?" Sebastian had been playing with Chaos. He had a feather and was floating it around for the cat to chase. 

"Yes?" Severus looked up from the Potions Quartley he was reviewing. It was Sunday night and Sebastian decided he wanted to stay the night. They had dinner in the Great Hall. The Dark Lord had tea after and had left about thirty minutes ago. 

"When you and my snakey getting married?" Sebastian watched as Chaos pounced on the feather. Chaos covered the feather with his body. 

"Bas, we are dating. It will happen when it happens. Why the rush?" Severus put down his magazine as he patted the spot next to him on the couch. He had thought that the marriage issues were resolved. After all, it has been almost six months since Sebastian had last asked. He wondered if it was because they would be leaving for the Yule holiday at the end of the week. 

"Everyone has two parents, even Dudley." Sebastian pouted for a second. "He used to pick on me. Tell me no one wanted me." 

Severus thought about what Sebastian was telling him. Usually, Sebastian wasn't so clear on his feelings so this must have been something his cousin had done for years to Sebastian. "Yes, but you see, you have four parents." Severus pulled Sebastian onto his lap. "You have your biological parents, who passed on and you have me and Tom."

Sebastian looked up at him. "So, it's like Tom said, a family we created?" 

Severus wasn't surprised that Sebastian remembered what the Dark Lord had told him. Sebastian had an excellent memory. "Exactly. We created this family. We selected our family and even if Tom and I aren't married, we are still a family." Severus watched Sebastian process what he said. The Dark Lord had taken Severus a few times a week. Sometimes it was for lunch, other times it was for dinner. The dates didn't last long as they each wanted to return to Hogwarts to make sure Dumbledore didn't do anything while they were away. 

"Isn't it required to be parents?" 

Severus smiled. "While most parents are married it's not a requirement. Eventually, we might get married but being a parent is more than being married. It's about making sure you are taken care of. Like when I check your work, give you frogs, make sure your warm at night, and up for classes in the morning." 

Sebastian made a weird face as he thought about what Severus just told him. "Be better if you got married, make the old man scared, too." 

"How about you go to bed and let me worry about getting married and the old man." 

"You worry about the nosy lions who are dunderheads too?" 

"I will." Severus had no idea why his son gave everyone nicknames but once you got tagged with it, it didn't change. He kissed the top of Sebastian' s head. "Make sure you put fresh water and food down for Chaos before you go to bed." Sebastian got down and called Chaos as he headed to the kitchen. Chaos followed with the feather in his mouth.


	21. Chapter 21

Sebastian stood over the cauldron. "Snakey, I think this isn't right." Sebastian was looking at the book and then to his potion. 

The Dark Lord walked over to the cauldron. He had been dicing up his own ingredients for a few potions that Severus needed to make for Poppy. Severus had Hogsmeade duty this weekend so Sebastian was staying with him when Severus was in the village. "It's fine, just give it ten more stirs, remember to count." 

The Dark Lord watched as Sebastian stirred. "Snakey, you going to marry my Bat?" 

"Yes. However, he doesn't know that yet. I was thinking over the summer holiday we will look through the vaults for the correct ring." The Dark Lord knew which ring he wanted to use but also knew Sebastian would enjoy looking at them and helping him to select. "You can't tell him or anyone else. It's our secret." 

Sebastian was almost shaking with excitement. "I won't tell." He looked up at the Dark Lord. "Can I tell Chaos?" 

"It's may. Yes but only the cat. You can't tell Draco, Neville, or Luna." The Dark Lord looked at the potion. "One more stir and it will be finished." 

"We make the one we did on Wednesday?" 

"Yes, Severus wanted you to be able to make it without any problem." The Dark Lord also had the ingredients lined up for next weeks potion. 

"When are you going to ask my Bat?" Sebastian turned off the flame as he laid down the stirrer. 

The Dark Lord gave a slight laugh. He had warned Severus that Sebastian wasn't going to give up on the idea of them being married any time soon. "I was thinking of Yule."

Sebastian looked at the Dark Lord. "You promise?"

"I do." The Dark Lord reassured Sebastian. "I was thinking we can work on it together."

Sebastian smiled. "Aunt Cissy will want to do the wedding. She told me so." 

The Dark Lord had no doubt about that. The Dark Lord also realized who planted the idea in Sebastian's head. He would have to find a way to thank Narcissa for doing it. Perhaps some shopping in Paris would do the trick.

________________________________________________ (Later that night)

Severus read the book that Dumbledore had left in Sebastian's room. He flipped the page to see if he missed something. "Tom, is there a page missing?" 

"Nope. He just changed the subject in the middle of talking about the Potters." The Dark Lord was correcting some exams. "He has been doing that lately. He started talking about lessons with Pomona and the next question was about being friends with Granger and Weasley." 

Severus reread all the latest entries. They were about how wonderful Gryffindor was, how the Potters were ideal Gryffindors, then suddenly it was about being friends with Granger and Weasley. He read the response. He laughed. The Dark Lord had written back saying friends use the right name of a person. "You know Granger and the two Weasleys will finally start calling him Sebastian." 

"Yes, I already warned Sebastian. He simply replied that he didn't like them no matter what name they called him." 

Severus thought that was a typical Sebastian remark. He read the last comment in the book. "What did Dumbledore mean by mentioning the Chamber?" 

"I'm not sure. I think he is still trying to figure out where it is. He has hinted at it. I am also wondering if he is trying to see if Sebastian is a parseltongue. He makes mention of the Chamber being hidden by Salazar and special gifts." 

"I noticed. I had wondered about that myself. Sebastian knows not to speak in parseltongue to anyone but you and Nagini. Do you think he might bring a snake in?" 

The Dark Lord looked up from his work. "He might. I wouldn't put it past him. I will need your help in teaching him how to switch to English while looking at a snake." He would have Sebastian work with him Nagini tomorrow before they did any lessons. 

"Oh, Minerva mentioned something about the second floor. Someone has been causing Myrtle to flood the bathroom." Severus arched a brow at the Dark Lord.

"I haven't been near there. I don't want Dumbledore to even get a whiff of that being where the Chamber entrance is." 

Severus frowned a bit as he reread the entries. "I wonder if he is using one of his trio to try and locate the Chamber. You know he hates not knowing it if it fact or rumor." 

"He could be. He hasn't had an event so far this year. So perhaps this is his way of seeing if I have returned by creating someone going after the Chamber. He would believe the children would write one." Dumbledore had a very bad habit of believing anyone who wasn't a true Gryffindor could be a Death Eater and if you were in Slytherin, you were a Death Eater. 

Severus put the book down. He walked over to the Dark Lord. "How much more do-" 

The Dark Lord pulled Severus into his arms and gave him a kiss. 

"Yuck." Draco and Neville voiced their opinion as they were standing in the doorway with Sebastian smiling. "See they don't bite like Weasel's sister." 

"What are you three doing up." 

"Neville hit me with a pillow." Draco reported as Neville and Sebastian answered, "Draco's snoring." 

Severus didn't even bother to ask how the wards came down. He knew the answer by looking at his son. "Come on, I'll make you some hot chocolate." He wondered if he could sneak in a drop of a sleep potion.

 

____________________________________________ (Sunday night)

Severus arrived back in his quarters to find them empty. A note was on his desk telling him to go to the Dark Lord's quarters. He put down his purchases and headed to the Dark Lord's quarters. He was thankful he wasn't on hall patrol tonight as the students were louder and a bit hyper than they normally were. He knew one of the Ravenclaws in their seventh year had a bit of a party to celebrate his birthday down in the village. 

Severus didn't even get to knock before the door was opened to admit him to the Dark Lord's quarters. He was a bit surprised to find everyone sleeping. The Dark Lord was lying stretched out on the couch with Sebastian almost on top of him. Draco and Neville sharing the chaise lounge, and Luna was sleeping in his favorite recliner. He looked at the table and saw it was set for a full meal. He peeked into the kitchenette and saw the huge mess. The Dark Lord had help in making dinner. Severus summoned a book and chair after making sure everyone was covered with a blanket. He knew their assignments were completed as he had checked Sebastian's. As he was about to sit down, he had an idea. He summoned his camera. Blackmail material.


	22. Chapter 22

Severus exhaled. It was June and the school year was almost over. Dumbledore had continued writing in the book, despite being dragged into messy divorce proceedings by the Weasley family. Molly was now back to being Molly Prewitt and still resided at the Dumbledore's house. Many people were whispering about their relationship. 

Arthur banned Molly from having any meetings with the children unless he was present. He didn't trust her any longer. Sadly for Molly, none but the two youngest wanted to speak to the woman. Bill and Charlie moved back to England and were working at Gringotts. Bill has a ward breaker and Charlie was working with their dragons. Percy was ashamed of his mother's behavior. The twins didn't seem to care as the woman was always putting them down. 

Severus did notice a change in behavior from the two youngest. Arthur wasn't so slack on making sure the two knew what was expected of them and how they were to behave. Dumbledore still tried to interfere but Arthur made it clear to Dumbledore that he wasn't to go near his children unless it had to do with their academic career and Arthur was to be present at all meetings. Ginny and Ron still created problems but they were ones that Minerva had to handle. Minerva wasn't as forgiving as Dumbledore was. After a few weeks of earning detentions from her, the two started to realize they didn't have favor in Hogwarts any longer. 

Sebastian, Draco, Neville, and Luna did everything together. The four were always seen together, even if they didn't share a class. Severus noticed that Ginny tried to renew her friendship with Luna. Luna remained quite firm in her resolve to not associate with Ginny. "Bat?" Sebastian entered Severus office. 

"Little Bat?" Severus lowered his quill. He had been marking the assignments. It never changed as the end of the year drew closer to a close the quality of the students' work always declined.

"That book is on my desk in my room, again." 

Severus frowned. He wondered how it got there. He knew it had been on his desk in his bedroom. "I'll take a look." 

Tina was waiting out in the hall. "Get Snaky?" 

"Yes, please, Tina." Severus watched the house-elf disappear as Severus walked with Sebastian back to their quarters. He wasn't surprised to find Neville, Draco, and Luna in the hall. "Go and study in the common room. Gemma will be in there if you need assistance." 

The Dark Lord appeared with Tina. The four students didn't wait around. They knew something important was happening. The Dark Lord waited until they were gone before speaking. "Tina mentioned a book?" 

"The book." Severus opened his quarters. They headed directly to Sebastian's room. The book was in the center of the desk, on a stack of parchment. Something that Sebastian would never do. Sebastian never let his books touch the parchment. Sebastian always stacked any book on the left-hand side of his desk. Parchment was always on the right. 

The Dark Lord started to run some scans on the book. He handed the results to Severus. Severus read the list of compulsion charms on the books. There were three compulsions and two hate wards. "He didn't think I would wonder about my son's change in behavior. A hate ward directed at me as well as Draco. The compulsions to like the two youngest Weasleys and him. He must think I'm an idiot." 

"I believe he is relying on Sebastian not saying anything about the book. Why? I have no idea." 

"He could be relying on me trusting him. He believes we don't know about the book so he must be counting on us not linking changes in Sebastian to him." Severus summoned a potion pouch he used for dangerous potions. "Let's put it in here. We can save it to use against him later." 

"Agreed. If we tried it now no one would believe us, despite the most recent scandal."

Severus and the Dark Lord sealed the pouch. "I'll send it to Gringotts."

The Dark Lord looked at the desk. "The parchment. Sebastian doesn't let anything touch and his parchment is never in the center of the desk." 

Severus sighed. "Run a scan on the parchment." 

The Dark Lord did. He growled a bit as he read the results. "That man must think we are idiots." 

Severus read the results. The parchment soaked in a loyalty potion, directed at Dumbledore. Severus summoned another pouch. "I'm going to make him regret doing this." 

"I agree. We have all summer to provide him with some payback." The Dark Lord was already thinking of potions that were going to make their way into the Dumbledore household. Two birds, or Phoenixes, with one stone. 

"Oh, his lemon drops will never be the same again." Severus was already thinking of how to doctor Dumbledore's lemon drops. The Dark Lord grinned.

__________________________________________________________

Sebastian looked up at Dumbledore. "Why?" Sebastian was a bit surprised to find Dumbledore down in the dungeon's hallway leaning to the common room. 

"Don't you want to be with your friends over your holiday?"

"I will be." Sebastian looked down the hall. "Tina!" 

Tina appeared, grabbed Sebastian, popped them away. Tina popped Sebastian directly to Severus. Severus was in his bedroom. "Tina? Little Bat?" 

"Dumbles he tried to speak to Little Bat."

"Sebastian, what happened?" 

"Dumbledore wanted me to go and stay with the Weasels at his house. He kept mentioning they were my friends."

"I will handle it. Why don't you go to your room and finish packing? Except for what you will need for tonight and tomorrow. Keep Chaos' food and water bowl out until tomorrow morning." Severus was going to kill Dumbledore. He made sure Sebastian was settled into his room and that Tina would remain in the room with Sebastian. 

____________________________________________________

Severus went to his potion lab. He opened up the pouch that had some of the potion soaked parchment. He laid it out on his workbench. He sorted through his potions. He took two of his lesser-known potions. Lesser known as only the Dark Lord and he were aware of them.

Severus headed up to Dumbledore's office. He gave the password and entered Dumbledore's office. Dumbledore was standing by his bookcase browsing his books. Severus stared at the man. He wanted to curse the man. He knew he had found the perfect way to handle it. "Sebastian said he met you in the hallway." 

Dumbledore jumped a bit. "Ah, yes, Severus. He did." Dumbledore looked guilty for a few seconds.

"Were you looking for me?" 

"No, my boy. I just happened to see Sebastian and decided to ask him how his year was."

"I see. Here are the students' marks as well as my book list for next year." Severus laid the pieces of parchment on Dumbledore's desk. He turned and left Dumbledore's office. Severus went to the Dark Lord's office. He knew the man had been working on finishing all his work so they could leave tomorrow. The students had been gone for a week. He wasn't surprised to find the Dark Lord sitting at his desk. Severus put up some privacy ward. "You aren't going to be surprised to learn this but Dumbledore made a bold move today."

"What did he do? What did you do to him?" The Dark Lord was already planning his own revenge.

Severus informed the Dark Lord of what happened and how he used the parchment that Dumbledore used. 

"He is going to be in for one rough summer with those two potions." The Dark Lord knew the potions were going to make Dumbledore feel every bit of his age and his body was going to react as if he had a permanent allergy. "I need some of that parchment." 

Severus pulled out his pouch. "I brought you some. I was thinking some of parselmagic." 

"So was I. I will add a flu-like spell as well as a making his skin look all red and blotchy to add to the allergy effect."

"Excellent idea. Let's get it started. I informed him I am leaving tomorrow." Severus was leaving as soon as he could.

"I am already packed. I planned on leaving early in the morning." 

As part of their contracts, they were required to spend a week at Hogwarts after the students left. "After breakfast. He won't notice we are gone until we don't appear for lunch. Sebastian would love to get back home." The Dark Lord took the parchment and laid it on his desk and he began to work.

____________________________________________________

Sebastian had Chaos in his arms. The cat's back legs were hanging down the front of Sebastian's hips and legs. Sebastian's trunk was on the floor next to him. "We ready!" 

"Chaos' bowls?" Severus almost laughed at seeing Chaos just pacified about dangling from Sebastian's arms.

"In my trunk."

"Food and litter?" Severus knew Tina would make sure they had plenty of food and litter for Chaos. Also for them too. The little elf seemed to know what they would need before they did.

"In my trunk. Tina put them in."

"Did you leave anything here or packed it all?" Severus had arranged for a bigger trunk for Sebastian. His old one couldn't even handle all of his books. Last year when he had aided Sebastian in repacking his trunk he knew he needed to get a bigger size so he brought a new one after the Yule season. Sebastian wanted things in his trunk a certain way. Severus made sure to include a big library in Sebastian' trunk.

"All?" Sebastian looked a bit worried about that. "I left some stuff behind. Tina didn't think I needed to pack my parchments and ink." 

"That is fine. Remember you can leave things here." Severus was impressed that Sebastian was willing to leave things behind. It was a big improvement.

"So we go now?" 

"No, we need to go to breakfast first in the Great Hall. We can leave right after that. Do not tell Dumbledore we are leaving after breakfast." Severus didn't want to deal with Dumbledore trying to stop them.

"It's a secret?" 

"Not exactly. It is just better for us if he doesn't know." Severus knew Sebastian wouldn't say a word.

"Snakey coming too?" 

"Yes, he is."

Sebastian smiled as he put Chaos down. "Chaos, you stay here." The cat just headed for the couch. "Ready. May I bring a book?"

"No, you can't. We won't remain for long." Severus hoped the younger Weasleys wouldn't be present or Molly Prewitt. Arthur had to allow the kids to see Molly if they wanted to a few days a week as per the divorce decree. "You sit between me and Tom." 

"I will."


	23. Chapter 23

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is a bit of a flashback to before the divorce with the flashback, it's building up to something later

Sebastian sat between the Dark Lord and Severus. Dumbledore hadn't arrived as of yet. Minerva and the rest of the staff were waiting for Dumbledore to arrive. The past few weeks had been interesting. The news of Arthur filing for a divorce gave Rita enough fodder for weeks of articles. The court records were closed but Rita still had her own version.

Severus saw Minerva look at the time. She tapped the table and breakfast was started. Severus exchanged a look with the Dark Lord. Minerva usually waited for Dumbledore. The events in the Daily Prophet changed a lot of people's attitude regarding Dumbledore. 

*******Flashback*******************

Severus was sitting at the Head Table, the Dark Lord was sitting next to him. They could hear Dumbledore discussing what needed to be completed before the term was finished next month. The owls arrived dropping mail and the newspaper.

Lucius had warned them that this morning was going to be interesting as well as the next few weeks. Severus opened the paper and stared at the headline. 

ARTHUR WEASLEY USES OLD FAMILY LAW TO FORCE DIVORCE

by Rita Skeeter

Yesterday, at the Ministry, Arthur Weasley petitioned the Wizengamot for a divorce from his wife, Molly Prewitt Weasley. He submitted a formal petition requesting the Wizengamot to grant his divorce citing Molly's willingness to break the family charter. Arthur presented a formal list of charges to the Wizengamot and DMLE Head Madam Amelia Bones regarding his wife that would allow him to divorce her using the family charter. 

Arthur Weasley provided proof of his wife's stealing from the Weasley family with a letter of demand from Gringotts for the stolen funds. He also presented a letter of demand from Gringotts for the funds stolen by his wife from Harry Potter. The funds were returned to Harry Potter at the expense of what Mr. Weasley and any funds he had saved. Mr. Weasley had the letters certified by Gringotts. 

He also submitted certified copies of the family accounting reflecting the funds she stole from him over the course of their marriage. He provided the memories of her lying about funds that he provided to go toward the rent of their home that went into Molly Weasley's personal account. 

Many believed that Arthur would cite adultery for the cause of divorce. Molly Weasley has been residing at Headmaster Dumbledore's home since last year. However, in their marriage contract, it wasn't a valid reason for a divorce until after the youngest was of age. 

 

Severus and the Dark Lord were a bit surprised by Arthur's bold move. It wasn't something he would have done while the man had lived with Molly. Severus wondered if the man had been subjected to Dumbledore or Molly's generous use of potions. Arthur's attitude since he kicked Molly out of the Borrow had greatly changed. 

***another flashback******************************

The next day, Severus and the Dark Lord were eager to see the paper. The students and staff had been full of all kinds of rumors. The Weasleys siblings had been fighting over the information. The youngest two Weasleys back up their mother while the older ones took their father's side, using family law and the Weasley family charter. Minerva had spent most of the day yesterday breaking up fights between the family members.

The owls arrived and the papers landed on the tables. Everyone grabbed them eagerly. Severus opened his. 

ARTHUR CHECKED FOR POTIONS

by Rita Skeeter

In the most shocking news ever, Arthur Weasley amended the charges against his wife, Molly Weasley, yesterday afternoon. Arthur had been to Gringotts regarding a way to take charge of the family finances. Many are aware of the benefits of speaking to the goblins regarding improving their vaults. 

Arthur Weasley instead spent his scheduled meeting time get a system purge. Arthur had tried to gain access to the family accounts and due to the security on the vaults, he had been denied entrance. The goblins ran a basic health scan and found residue of potions slowly leaving his system. They encouraged a purge. Arthur spent an hour getting a purge and was finally gain access to his family vaults. 

What exactly have Headmaster Albus Dumbledore and Molly Weasley planned? How does Severus Snape feel about the fact that funds were stolen from his son? Why did the Headmaster allow funds to be withdrawn from the Potter vaults? Is that the reason why he allowed the muggles who abused Harry Potter to escape punishment? 

 

Severus looked at his son. Sebastian was eating his breakfast as everyone was eating. Sebastian didn't seem the least bit concerned with the gossip. He would check on his son later to make sure his son understood what the paper was saying. 

Severus glanced down the table to Dumbledore. Dumbledore looked a bit surprised by the article. Minerva was already demanding answers from the man. Dumbledore got up and left the room without answering any questions. 

________________Later that night_______

Sebastian was sitting on the floor playing with Chaos. Severus sat down on the couch. "Little Bat, do you have any questions for me?"

"Yes, why does Chaos like playing with feathers?"

Severus looked at Chaos who was chasing the dancing feather. "It's a cat thing. However, I meant regarding the information in the paper the last two days."

"No, Weasel is a dunderhead, so is his mother." Sebastian looked up at Severus. "Bat, is those things in the paper the reason why the Weasel family is fighting? Percy and the Twins said their dad was a good person."

"He is a good person. The Weasley family is fighting because of family issues."

"Should we send a gift since their dad is ill? The Twins said he was ill and was recovering." Sebastian pulled Chaos to him. He carried the cat to where Severus was sitting. He put Chaos on the couch, giving the cat the feathers. 

Severus knew where Sebastian got that idea. Narcissa had explained to Sebastian about sending cards when Sebastian had seen her writing out Yule cards. Severus watched as Sebastian took care of Chaos before sitting on his lap. "No. It's not necessary. It's not a sickness type of illness. Did you finish your assignments? Did you read the chapters that you were assigned to read?"

"Yes, Bat, I did. Tomorrow, we are going to have a study session." Sebastian proceeded to tell Severus about his day.

____________________________________________________

Over the next week, Rita printed the different reactions the wizarding world had in response to her previous articles as well as anything she learned about why Molly was fired from her jobs. Rita spent the following week writing stories regarding Molly's Hogwarts days and her involvement with the Order. Rita had linked Molly's involvement with the Order to her involvement with Dumbledore. Rita had about six weeks of articles she had written.

The fighting within the five Weasleys hadn't gotten better during the time but it also didn't get worse. Minerva had assigned the two youngest different rooms outside of Gryffindor since the two were the ones who usually started the fights with their older siblings. 

Dumbledore had tried to stop the newspapers from being delivered but it didn't work. He had tried to have his name withdrawn from the divorce proceedings but the attempt failed. Dumbledore had tried to speak to Arthur but Arthur had thrown him off the property. 

Dumbledore had been busy over the weeks due to Rita's articles. Minerva, Severus, Filius, and the Dark Lord worked on getting the students and Hogwarts ready for the end of year exams as well as the OWLs and NEWTs. Severus and the Dark Lord spent a few hours a week with the Slytherins making sure they were ready for their exams. 

Severus was proud of Sebastian spending extra time studying with his friends in the common room not just in the library or other study sessions. Sebastian had come to the Dark Lord and him with questions regarding what he was reading if he wasn't sure he had the theory down. 

**************Flashback**************

ARTHUR WEASLEY GRANTED HIS DIVORCE

by Rita Skeeter

Yesterday, it was decreed in a closed session that Arthur Weasley and Molly Prewitt Weasley were officially divorced. The divorce decree was filed and listed the responsibility of the divorce fell on the parties of Molly Prewitt and Albus Dumbledore. 

While we weren't able to attend the session or read the minutes of the session, the information was listed in the divorce decree was clear and precise. Arthur Weasley got everything, including the custody of the underage children. Molly Prewitt would only be allowed limited visitation rights with Arthur Weasley present. 

Headmaster Albus Dumbledore was forbidden to met with any of the Weasley family members unless Arthur Weasley was present or a representative of Arthur's choosing. In the divorce decree, Albus Dumbledore was listed as the half of the responsible party and was fined $1,000 Galleons per underage children. Inheritance tests on all children were to happen over the summer. 

 

******************** End Flashback************************

The owls arrived and the morning newspapers were delivered. Severus wasn't sure what this morning's paper would hold but he had a feeling it would be interesting.

MOLLY PREWITT DISOWNED BY THE PREWITT FAMILY

Muriel Prewitt announced last night that she has officially disowned her niece, Molly, from the family. She blamed the shame her niece has brought to the family as the reason. The shame referenced the theft and illegal usage of potions on Arthur Weasley.

Muriel Prewitt never had any children and her niece was the last of the brother-in-law's children. She named the twins Frederick and George Weasley as her heir based on the family charter that twins receive the Prewitt title. Muriel listed her nephew Charles Weasley as the heir of her personal vaults. Her nephew Percival Weasley as the heir of her properties outside of the Prewitt family ones. 

Muriel Prewitt did state that if the youngest two passed an Inheritance Test she would provide funds for them. She believed the interest Albus Dumbledore took in the two youngest was unhealthy. She also believed the interest that Albus Dumbledore expressed during Molly time at Hogwarts was distressing and she had warned her husband and brother-in-law about Dumbledore's interest in Molly.

Severus lowered the paper. Most of the Gryffindors were staring at the two youngest Weasleys. The two youngest looked at their brothers. The family members stared at each other for the longest time as the whispers started to grow. Percy got up, the twins followed his example, and they got their youngest two siblings out of the Great Hall.

Severus looked at his son. He wasn't surprised to find his son was eating. Severus knew Sebastian didn't care for the stories in the newspaper. Sebastian loved to watch the pictures move. He was proud as the Slytherins weren't commenting on the articles. His snakes were watching the students and staff. Tomorrow everyone was leaving for their summer holiday. Severus wasn't sure if Dumbledore would attend the Leaving Feast. Severus wasn't sure if Dumbledore would survive much more damage. He was looking forward to the results of the Inheritance Tests.


End file.
